Posted on 09/12/2008 10:57:24 AM PDT by george76
A Park County rancher on Friday waived his right to a preliminary hearing and asked to enter a plea in the slaughter of 32 bison owned by his neighbor.
It’s hard to find anyone here sympathetic to Hawn.
(Excerpt) Read more at summitdaily.com ...
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Any idea what the possible sentence could be?
A hunter would have taken at least the skin and horns and butchered the carcass for the best cuts of meat. These appear to have been wasteful killers.
Aztlan shooters left dead buffalo on BLM, USFS lands plus on various other people’s private property.
charged with theft and 32 counts of aggravated animal cruelty
Colorado is a Fence Out State. Most Western states are. If you dont want livestock on your property, it is legally your responsibility to build an adequate fence to keep them out. Right or wrong that is the way it is.
That sucker isnt going to get any slack from juries in that area. People there in South Park dont cotton to the outsiders with luxury houses there anyway.
Mackey’s a smart lawyer, looks like she’s saving Hawn some money by going to the plea hearing.
What do you think the plea bargain will be, George. I’d wager he’ll pay restitution and a fine and get a little probation.
Do you have any evidence that the Free Range laws apply to Bison? I know that they typically only apply to cattle, horses and sheep. I know that Free Range Law does not apply to dogs, and wild animals for instance. I guess the question is whether Buffalo are considered domesticated or not.
I hope he spends at least a little jail time in the same cell as Bubba.
This guy is a bozo and under no way should be allowed to claim ignorance. note this excerpt from the Park County, Colorado web site, The code of Park County:
“Ranchers often work around the clock, especially during calving and haying seasons. Hay is often swathed or baled at night and ranch equipment may be in constant use during the period. Livestock are sometimes moved along or across highways and county roads. Courtesy dictates that you pull over and patiently allow the livestock to pass. After all, the cows were here first. Colorado has an open range law which means ranchers are not required to keep livestock fenced in. If you do not want cattle, sheep or other livestock on your property, it is your responsibility to fence them out.....What else can we say? If you choose to live in the rural countryside, enjoy the scenery and remember, this is the real West!
Do not expect county government to interfere with
the normal operations of our ranching community. Colorado has “Right to Farm” legislation that protects farmers and ranchers from nuisance and liability lawsuits and allows them to continue producing food and fiber, regardless of how new residents feel about their country neighbors.
http://www.parkco.us/Documents/Emergency%20Management/Code%20of%20Park%20County.pdf
I hope he does too, he deserves it but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I would have been inclined to shoot a few of the bison. (I wouldn’t have left them there to rot, though....I love bison meat. I eat at Ted’s Montana Grill every chance I get.)
“Fence Out” is an antiquated concept that is past its time. I’m surprised that Colorado hasn’t changed to “fence in” status.
Probably restitution, fine, and no jail time. The judge should order this guy to build a bison-proof fence all around his property, and to serve 1,000 hours of community service in an animal shelter.
As I recall, he did have fence up that would keep "cattle, sheep or other livestock" off his property, but Bison are a completely different story, and the property owners claims and complaints were totally ignored.
Shooting the Bison was wrong, but at least half the blame belongs to the Bison owner.
Evidence? What kind of question is that? It is common knowledge. No it does not apply to wild animals, that is why they call them wild. You cannot own wild animals. The law pertains to owned livestock. The law favors the livestock owner. The law places the burden on farmers and outsiders who come into range land.
http://www.coloradocattle.org/website/newpages/fencelaws.htm
Here. There’s the evidence. Colorado fence Law.
Dogs? Well in this part of the country, you keep your dog at home. If your dog is found amongst my baby calves. The dog will die there. What dog? We did not see any dogs around here. He musta just gone up in the brush and died somewhere. I doubt you’ll ever see him again, big cat probably ate him.
“Hawn said the bison knocked his satellite television dishes off-line and left dung, tracks and hair on “pristine pasture on rolling hills.”
Tsk, tsk. Except for the satellite dishes are not those some of the same excuses used for exterminating the natives? I wonder if I could use the same excuses to shoot some of the ‘wildlife’ in my neighborhood.
I am surprised that Hawn did not pay for the buffalo his AZTLAN shooters killed.
Likely less money than his legal bills.
In an arrest warrant, investigators say the bulk of the bison — 14 of them — were killed on land owned by Catherine Pimm.
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property, four on U.S. Forest Service property, three on property of Robert Lemm and three on Hawn’s ranch.
Well, I happen to live just across the state line from Colorado. My property is in a Fence In state. Our law says that we have to contain our livestock within our property and be responsible for damage that they do if they get out. But that is not the law in Colorado.
We had a neighbor who was bound and determined to put his bulls next to a pasture where I was keeping a bunch of heifers. He didnt have to, he just did it to be ornery. Well they rode the fence and when the heifers came into heat they broke the fence and headed for the heifers who were too young to breed. We called him, he laughed. I hollered at a couple of the boys, they saddled up, roped the offending bull, castrated him right there and then ran him home and fixed the fence. The neighbor was sorely pi$$ed over that but he never said anything. Soon after that he moved the bulls to another pasture. That is the way it works.
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