More frozen cows found near Colorado spring

• Tweet

ASPEN, Colo., April 25 (UPI) -- Officials plotting to dispose of six cow carcasses found in a cabin near Colorado's Conundrum Hot Springs said more frozen cows were found buried in the snow.

Bill Kight, a spokesman for the White River National Forest, said a U.S. Forest Service team hiked and skied the 8 miles to the cabin, located southwest of Aspen, to check on the six frozen cows located inside the structure and they discovered additional cows buried in snow, The Aspen Times reported Wednesday.

"We've got quite a few carcasses," Kight said. "It's more than six, but I can't give you a number yet."

The cattle were among the 29 reported missing by a rancher from the adjacent Gunnison National Forest in late fall. The cows died of exposure when the temperatures plummeted, officials said.

Kight said samples of the plaster from the cabin will be tested for asbestos to determine whether it and the cows can be disposed of via fire. He said samples from the hot springs will be tested to see if the water has been contaminated by the carcasses.