ASPEN, Colo.—Forest officials evaluating how to dislodge the carcasses of cows found inside a cabin near Aspen are checking whether the structure has asbestos first.
Options for removing the carcasses include using explosives or burning down the cabin.
Rangers believe the animals wandered into the cabin during a snowstorm but then couldn’t find their way out. Air Force Academy cadets found the carcasses while snowshoeing in late March.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Steve Segin (SAY-gehn) says rangers visited the site Friday near the Conundrum Hot Springs in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area. Segin says no timeline has been set to decide how to remove the cows, but time is of the essence. Hot springs are nearby, and rangers want the carcasses gone before they decompose.
