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Cattle That Froze to Death To Be Cut Up And Removed From Hut

ASPEN, Colo. (CBS4) - The United States Forest Service will cut up the carcasses of cattle that froze to death near the popular Conundrum Hot Springs outside of Aspen.

There are least six dead cows inside a hut with more dead outside the building.

Air Force Academy cadets found the dead animals while snowshoeing in late March.

In the next few days, the Forest Service will send a team to the hut to chop up the carcasses and remove them because they are a food source for predators.

The decision was made after discarding plans to either blow up the hut and carcasses or burn them all.

"We want to speed that process up," explained Scott Fitzwilliams, who is the forest supervisor for the White River National Forest. "These carcasses are going to attract a lot of scavengers and our biggest concern is bears."

Once the carcasses are cut into manageable sizes, the chunks will be put on a sled, pulled away from the site and dispersed around the forest.

The forest service is asking the public to stay away from the area but it does not expect to close the popular hiking destination during the removal.

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