Posted on 05/16/2008 6:15:16 AM PDT by george76
Texas businessman Jeff Hawn was charged May 8 in the March slaying of 32 bison near Hartsel and faces one count of class 3 felony theft, one count of class 3 felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a class 6 felony.
Hawn turned himself in to the Park County Jail on May 12 and bonded out...
Kobe Bryant's attorney
The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that the bison had been killed over the course of a number of weeks.
For instance, it states that on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of the wasted bison carcasses that had been shot weeks prior to the first contact with hunters at the Hawn property."
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation also matched a bullet cartridge case found on Forest Service land near the scene of dead bison to a 30.06 rifle found in Hawn's home.
In a Feb. 25 letter addressed to Antonino Salcedo, Hawn gave permission to Salcedo and his "Atzlan Native Community" colleagues, based in Gardner, Colo., to "remove the buffalo from my ranch."
(Excerpt) Read more at theflume.com ...
If it is anything like Texas, it is generally considered the drivers fault.
If the road is marked with an "Open Range" sign.Section 2C.48 Other Warning Signs.The Colorado Supplement to the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2000A new section is added to the Colorado Supplement:
In unfenced rural areas where cattle or sheep may
graze close to the highway or wander onto
or across the road, the Colorado Department of
Transportation designed RANGE/CATTLE or
OPEN/RANGE signs may be used.
Do you understand grazing leases? Ranchers that lease BLM land for grazing don't have fences where they adjoin the Fed lands. This is the rule, rather than the exception, in the west. Have you noticed that Hawn is the only one with the problem? The others are happy to have the herd graze their fire-prone land.
Actually, no. Bison are pretty easily confined by an electric fence, or 3-strand barb wire. I lived in Montana for 5 years and used to drive by ranches all the time with peacefully grazing buffalo behind such fences.”
A light fence will keep in a Buffalo that has enough to eat and enough room to roam.
Anything less than that, and you have to have something pretty stour.
I have seen buffalo and rodeo bulls go thru alot of stuff.
A ranchers about 50 miles south of here told me a story this spring about the first female yearling buffalo he bought. She was a little hard to load into the trailer to get home. Then she was put into a very strong steel pen with 6 foot rails, along with a strong steel feeder and strong steel water tank. The next morning, she was out of the pen- had jumped the 6 foot fence, and she had destroyed the water tank and the feeder. In less than 24 hours, she had destroyed over $1000 of equipment.
When I was at his ranch this spring, he had 17 buffs, including one bull. He said in order to get one into the trailer when sold, he used a front end loader to herd them, and had the trailer staged with the doors open.
One buff was limping, and I asked how they could inspect the leg and treat the cow. He said he has to herd them into the custom made chute and to be very quick about shutting the back of the chute. Then he said- “Oh, and I have the welding guy on standby before I even start to herd one into the chute”. That comment got my attention real good. He kept me and a friend entertained for over an hour telling us stories about dealing with buffalo.
Texas is a “fence out” state except in certain circumstances as pertains to local law.
http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/fence/tx_fnc.htm
In other words, Hawn is an ignorant big-city jerk who knowingly bought land next to an open-range buffalo ranch, didn’t fence his property properly and then killed and DISPOSED of his neighbors livestock.
In Texas, that is known as cattle rustling...
Preliminary hearing set in bison case
Texas businessman Jeff Hawn, accused of arranging for the slaying of 32 bison in March, will appear in Park County Combined Court on Sept. 15 for a preliminary hearing.
http://theflume.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=5430&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&S=1
Investigators allege that in a letter dated Feb. 25, Hawn authorized the slaughter by members of the Aztlan Native Community of Gardner.
He told the group he wanted them “to get started as quickly as possible.
In the arrest warrant, investigators say the bulk of the bison 14 were killed on the property of Catherine Primm.
Eight were killed on Bureau of Land Management property; four on U.S. Forest Service property; three on the property of Robert Lemm; and three on Hawn’s ranch.
http://m.denverpost.com/topic/777-Top%20Stories/articles/147192084
Mr. Hawn has 32 criminal charges against him... The property Mr. Hawn owns isnt used as a ranch; its just a vacation area. In the first place, a rancher doesnt hate animals and KILL them!
There isnt any one that knows that the buffalo did any damage to anything; theyre just guessing.
It could have been a herd of elk that stays in that area; or even Hawns horses rubbing on his solar panels and TV dishes could have been the problem.
Vaughn Downare
http://www.theflume.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=5474&TM=74279.37
Send him up!
Ranch owner waives preliminary hearing in deaths of 32 bison
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2080978/posts?page=11
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