I don’t see how this guy is being prosecuted. I also don’t understand how they can take his dog away.
Hindsight is 20/20. He made a heartbreaking decision, but he had no way of knowing that a rescue team would be willing to spend nine hours to rescue his dog.
http://www.bullwrinkle.com/Assets/animallaws/coloradolaw.htm
Certain parts of 1(a) and 1 (b).
The original decision was both probably heartbreaking and necessary to save human life. The mistake he made, IMHO, was not going back to help her. By himself or with a hired party if he didn’t feel he could get her off of the mountain himself. (well, actually the first mistake was to take her there in the first place, as he admitted in the OP.)
If you haven’t done so already, you may want to read the whole thread. There is some really good info about this situation, especially from the “climbers” on the thread.