SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney says action will be taken against ranchers and local law officers who allowed cattle seized for illegal grazing on federal land to be returned to their original owners.
Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney, said the office considered the action a flouting of federal law.
''We will pursue all administrative, criminal and civil remedies against the people who did this,'' she said. ''... What happened - we can't let that stand.''
Three weeks ago, Bureau of Land Management wranglers rounded up cattle belonging to Kanab rancher Mary Bullock after manager Kate Cannon determined Bullock had failed to comply with repeated orders to remove the animals from the drought-stricken Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
About 45 cattle were to be sold at auction Tuesday in Salina, but Bullock, flanked by 15 sympathetic ranchers from Kane County and Nevada, persuaded local authorities to release the cattle to her.
''I went up there and took my cattle home,'' Bullock said. She has been battling the BLM over grazing privileges in the monument.
The U.S. attorney appears to be unhappiest with Sevier County Sheriff Phil Barney, himself a cattleman, who allowed the cattle to be turned over to Bullock, The Salt Lake Tribune said.
Rydalch said Barney had previously promised he would help the BLM with its impoundment and auction, telling the U.S. attorney it did not need to send any federal police to Salina for Tuesday's auction.
''When you give your word to the U.S. attorney, that ought to stand for something,'' she said.
''I came to the conclusion that these people (the ranchers) were not at the auction to just make a statement, but that they wanted their cattle back,'' Barney said in a news release Thursday. ''I did not want a Waco situation and the value of the cattle was not of great worth and certainly not worth getting anyone hurt.''
He said the cattle were in poor condition and he didn't believe more than 10 that could be raised to the point where they could be sold.
''I felt if the government had evidence to charge these people they should be able to no matter where the cattle were,'' Barney said.
He said he told the owners to take the cattle to defuse the volatile situation.
The animals were driven south and released at locations that Bullock refused to disclose.
Kane County Sheriff Lamont Smith, anticipating federal law enforcement action, dispatched his deputies Wednesday to interview Bullock and the ranchers,
Smith said if federal agents attempt to take back the animals from the ranchers, he will make sure the agents have proper documentation.
''I will abide by the law,'' Smith said. ''But I'm going to do my job.''
