Feds: 234 cows corralled in Nevada range dispute

Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Rancher Cliven Bundy, left, and his son, Arden, stand on land the family has worked since the 1880s on August 20, 2013, in Bunkerville, Nevada. Bundy is battling the Bureau of Land Management over grazing rights.

Associated Press

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 | 12:07 p.m.

Officials say cowhands rounded up more cattle from federally controlled range land where a southern Nevada rancher claims a longstanding right to graze his herd.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service said Tuesday that 234 cows have been corralled since Saturday from a 1,200-square-mile area closed to the public for the operation about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

The BLM says the cattle have trespassed for decades, and that Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy has racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees while losing federal court cases.

Bundy claims to own at least 500 of more than 900 animals that rangers say are treading on protected habitat of the endangered desert tortoise.