For days, Katie Dreesman couldn’t stop thinking about a cow.
The animal was lying in a pasture outside Laramie, unable to get up. Dreesman had once lived on the property and learned about the cow from people still there.
By the time she went to see the cow around Oct. 14, Dreesman said she was told it had already been down for about two weeks.
“She couldn’t get up and go anywhere,” Dreesman said. “She was alone, and she couldn’t even turn away from the wind or anything like that.”
First, she called the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, then the Wyoming Livestock Board, and then animal advocates, all the while wondering who actually had the authority to do something about it.
“I was thinking about her a lot at night,” Dreesman said.
The cow was eventually euthanized by her owner, Thane McKinsey.
Hoping She’d Recover
The longtime Laramie-area livestock owner told Cowboy State Daily the cow hadn't simply gone down from old age. He said she was hit by a vehicle and badly injured.
“Whoever hit her destroyed her,” he said.
But a cow being down doesn't always mean a rancher immediately reaches for a gun.
“I thought if I let her sit a few days, she might get better,” McKinsey said.
Sylvia Bagdonas, a longtime animal-welfare advocate who later went to the property, said McKinsey told her he had raised the cow from birth.
Putting her down was difficult, "and he hadn’t brought himself to the point where he could … put it down,” Bagdonas recalled.
Bagdonas said McKinsey came across as sincere. She did not come away believing she had encountered a man indifferent to his animal.
After Bagdonas and another animal-welfare volunteer visited the property and spoke with the rancher, he shot the cow and ended her suffering.
Calling For Help
Dreesman said she first contacted the Albany County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 15 as the weather got cold. That night temperatures bottomed out at 22 degrees, and Laramie had just been hit with about four inches of snow.
A deputy responded, she said. When Dreesman later followed up, she said she was told the matter had been left with the animal’s owner.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests from Cowboy State Daily for information.
Dreesman then turned to the Wyoming Livestock Board.
Chris Strang, senior criminal investigator for the board, wrote: “The livestock board does not handle animal welfare cases. We will assist the local Sheriffs Office if they request our assistance. Primary enforcement and investigation must be handled by the Sheriffs Office.”
That left Dreesman frustrated.
She had reported the cow to the sheriff. The sheriff had responded but taken no further action.
Ten day slater, she took the situation public and made a Facebook post looking for someone who could help.
That is when the Wyoming Coalition for Animal Protection became involved.
'They're Going To Die'
Donal O’Toole, a retired veterinarian and board-certified veterinary pathologist who has worked with the Wyoming Coalition for Animal Protection, called cases like this a common dilemma in Wyoming.
Livestock occupy an unusual space.
The animals are private property. Owners make day-to-day decisions about treatment, recovery and euthanasia.
Law enforcement can get involved when allegations rise to the level of cruelty or neglect. In this case, the Livestock Board said it would assist local law enforcement if asked.
Once a cow cannot rise for an extended period, O'Toole said, pressure from her own body weight can damage muscles and tissues, creating additional injuries beyond whatever caused her to collapse in the first place.
After enough time, he said, the prognosis gets grim.
“They’re not going to get up,” he said. “They’re going to die.”
He also said approaching winter adds another concern because an immobile animal can't move away from the bitter wind and sub-freezing cold.
From a broader animal-welfare perspective, he said a cow's prolonged inability to stand is serious.
“In this case, the right thing happened,” he said.
How Long?
Exactly how long the cow remained unable to stand is less clear.
Dreesman said she was told the cow had already been down for about two weeks by the time she became involved in mid-October. Her own efforts to find help continued for over a week.
Bagdonas said she was told the animal was down for close to a month.
McKinsey, meanwhile, described his initial decision as wanting to give the cow “a few days” to see whether she improved.
For Dreesman, the larger concern remains what happens the next time someone sees an animal in similar circumstances.
“I don’t know what the answer is,” Bagdonas said.
Wyoming is a livestock state, where cattle are working animals, valuable property and, in many cases, animals ranchers have spent years raising.
Sometimes they recover from serious injuries, and sometimes they do not, she said.
“I'm glad he did put the cow out of its misery,” Bagdonas said. “But I just appreciate how difficult it is.”
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
