CATTLE FOUND AFTER THEFT.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

LAKE VIEW TERRACE - Fifteen cattle reported stolen New Year's Day from the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center have been found wandering in the Tujunga Wash, police said Thursday.

Five cattle are still missing, said Equestrian Center operator and cattleman Eddie Milligan. ``We're still trying to figure it out.''

Police suspect either rustlers or vandals released the cattle.

``We're thinking that whoever took the bulls used them to practice or use in an upcoming rodeo, knowing that they would lose part of them. And now, they're done with them and letting them loose,'' said Los Angeles police Detective George Morales of the Foothill Division.

Milligan said he doubts vandals were responsible because no horses at the Equestrian Center were let loose.

Milligan discovered the missing cattle, 60 in all, Jan. 1 and found that a fence in the back of the property had been cut open and four corrals emptied. Milligan and his workers immediately found three cattle in the yard and 37 others scattered over the mountainside and Big Tujunga Wash.

The cattleman has offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the theft of the cattle, worth about $800 apiece.

The cattle are used in rodeos and special events before being sold to the slaughterhouses, Milligan said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Foothill detectives at [phone] during business hours or [phone] after hours.