If the FBI will not enter the investigation of mysterious livestock deaths in Colorado and some adjacent states then Sen. Floyd Haskell, D.-Colo., should take the matter to Congress for resolution.
The incidents are too widespread—and potentially too dangerous to public order—to ignore. Narrow interpretations of what the FBI's role is vis-a-vis state authority are not adequate to the need.
There is already federal involvement. Consider this: Because of the gun-happy frame of mind developing in eastern Colorado (where most of the incidents have been occuring), the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has had to cancel a helicopter inventory of its lands in six counties. BLM officials are simply afraid their helicopters might be shot down by ranchers and others frightened by cattle deaths.
If that isn't a reason for federal involvment, we don't know what is. And the question of which federal agency investigates isn't as important as the need to bring a focus on the incidents that is broader than the juridiction of one state.
Killings and mutilations of livestock have been occuring in Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and elsewhere—not just in Colorado. If there is a pattern to the incidents it would seem that the broadest possible study of them is indicated.
In any case, Senator Haskell should keep the pressure on the FBI. It has manpower and a wide range of investigatory tools. And if the FBI resists sucessfully, the senator should go to Congress to get the sort of attention these alarming incidents deserve.