Runaway Cow Calls Attention To Arizona's Open Range Law

08/23/2010 07:41AM

A runaway cow that wandered Ahwatukee Foothills neighborhoods and sections of the South Mountain Preserve for eight weeks is calling attention to Arizona's Open Range Law.

A state legislator claims the wandering 1,000-pound heifer is an example of why Arizona laws that regulate cattle farms need to be modernized.

"Arizona's Open Range Law is a relic, it is an outdated 19th-century law," said Arizona Rep. Daniel Patterson, a Tucson Democrat who in the past legislative session introduced a bill that would, among other things, require cattle owners to keep their animals fenced.

The state House bill went nowhere, but Patterson said he will draft a similar bill for the next legislative session.

Present law allows cattle to roam and makes it the responsibility of property owners to find ways to keep the animals out of their yards or fields.

Patterson thinks the rule is backward.

"When people hear about the Open Ran ge Law they are just blown away," Patterson said. "They can't believe it puts the rights of cattle above those of property owners."
Patterson represents a section of southern Tucson that is similar to Ahwatukee, the southernmost part of Phoenix. Both abut rural areas where livestock is kept.

The runaway cow has been a source of amusement for Ahwatukee residents. As the cow remained on the lam from late June to mid-August, many wondered if they would see it while running or biking through the preserve and whether they would wake up to find it grazing on their lawns.

Patterson said he represents many angry Tucson residents who have had their fences broken and gardens trampled by stray cattle from nearby rural areas. Sometimes it is difficult to identify from which ranch a troublesome cow strays.

Patrick Bray, vice president of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, said a law requiring that cattle owners put fences around their property would be too exp ensive for ranchers who own immense properties in rural Arizona. Plus state history is on the cattle owners' side, he said.

"When we were settled, the law said you have to fence out cattle - not fence cattle in," he said.

The cow that wandered Ahwatukee for two months broke through a fence at a small farm in southwest Phoenix and ran off to the South Mountain Preserve. The Arizona Department of Agriculture issued the owner a written warning and told him to hire cowboys to round up the animal.

Over a period of two months, the Phoenix Police and Parks and Recreation departments received numerous reports about where the cow was, but neither agency has the authority to capture cattle under state law. Only owners and the state agriculture department can do that.

Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who lives close to a preserve area where the cow finally was captured, said he doesn't believe Phoenix needs any additional laws regulating cattle
or livestock within the ci ty limits.

"I have lived here 23 years and in my whole time here there has never been a cow loose in Ahwatukee," he said. "It was just kind of a freak thing."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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