Military call-up led to neglect of 49 cows that died on Big Isle

Associated Press

WAIMEA, Hawai'i — With a ranch hand called away to military service, no one was assigned to tend to a corral of 49 cattle that were neglected for more than a week and died.

Parker Ranch officials acknowledge that mistakes were made in handling the cattle and said they are tightening procedures for transferring animals on the vast Big Island ranch.

Cowboys at the ranch found 32 dead animals and 17 others dying on July 29, about a week after they were delivered to the corral at Ke'amuku, south of Waimea, said ranch spokeswoman Diane Quitiquit.

Waimea veterinarian Tim Richards said he concluded that the cattle died of dehydration.

On July 21, a contracted trucker delivered the cattle to the corral from North Kohala but no Parker employee was assigned to take over the animals and release them to pasture, Quitiquit said.

The ranch hand who might have tended to the animals was absent after being called away to military service, she said.

The 175,000-acre ranch has seen the number of cowboys tending to its 25,000 cattle dwindle from 25 two years ago to 12, Quitiquit said. The ranch also has fewer support staff such as mechanics and truck drivers than before. The ranch also has 10,000 cattle at feedlots on the Mainland.

Parker Ranch management "discovered a gap in procedures in livestock operations" that has been corrected, Quitiquit said.

"Parker Ranch has been in the livestock business for over 150 years, and done a very good job at it," she said. "When mistakes such as this are made, we take them seriously and pull our resources together to find out what happened, how it happened and how to prevent it in the future."

The ranch's new procedures for transferring cattle will ensure that specific employees handle paperwork at the beginning and end of the transfer process, she said.

Parker Ranch has lost cattle on other occasions. About 200 cattle had died during a drought in 1998, Waimea veterinarian Billy Bergin reported in 2000.

"The ranching industry does suffer from cattle deaths," Quitiquit said. "It's unfortunate, but it's part of this business. This situation is something we don't want to see again."

Founded in 1847, Parker Ranch is one of the oldest and largest cattle ranches in the nation.