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 ...
From the Mountain Mail 1/16/2008 9:28 AM
Chilson won't run Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Molly Chilson
will not run for re-election in November.
Chilson, a Republican, was elected in 2004 by defeating opponent Rocco Mecconi.
The district includes Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties.
Chief Deputy District Attorney and Cañon City native Thom LeDoux
will seek Republican nomination for the job. ...
Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener apparently is doing a good job on this investigation ?
He seems to staying above the day to day letting Deputy Gore do the more political things.
But, but, but they left Aztlan and invade Mexico in the 11th century....
If I was on the jury I would say that bison are not considered livestock.
livestock |ˈlīvˌstäk|noun
farm animals regarded as an asset
The two key words are “farm animals”. Bison are not common farm animals.
They are here in Colorado Ranch country
That is too scary
How many states have ranchers who raise Angus beef cattle, Holstein dairy cattle or sheep compared to bison. When I owned my ranch in Texas, I don’t think anyone within 500 miles of me had a single commercial bison. Now hundreds of ranchers had Hereford or Angus cattle.
Are you saying if I choose to raise elephants or camels on a ranch in Colorado Ranch country that my neighbors will be required to build walls around their property to keep my animals off their land?
the Department of Agriculture would be a good place to start:
NVDave went over all the tiny points regarding this subject on a different thread a week ago. I copied a few of his posts for you to read.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2011092/posts
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05/04/2008 11:56:29 PM PDT · 97 of 104
NVDave to lastchance
I did check the CCRs, but not, I will readily admit, exhaustively. 87 pages of results came back for livestock I found a definition in the sales and use tax section and I read the first 10 pages of results and within that 10 pages, the sales/use tax definition seemed to be held consistently.
Heres what I find under sales and use tax CCRs for definition of livestock:
1 CCR 201-5: ...Livestock means cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, lambs, poultry, swine, ostrich, llama, alpaca and goats or other animal raised for food, fiber or hide production, and alternative livestock under 35-41.5-102, C.R.S. but not pet animal as defined in 35-80-102(10), C.R.S.
No mention of bison/buffalo in that section except as the other animals raised for food/fiber... which then gets into the practices of the producer.
If there are conflicting definitions within the CCRs, then Im sure a lawyer will argue the point that the state cant get their act together on defining livestock.
My experience with regulations and statutes on this issue in Nevada was that the DA said that if the regulations didnt speak to the statute involved, the statutes definition won out. This will vary from state to state, of course.
My eyes glazed over when I did a search for livestock in the CCRs man, do they spend a lot of time filibustering about livestock and mountain lions in the CCRs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2011092/posts?page=97#97
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05/04/2008 10:45:14 PM PDT · 94 of 104
NVDave to MtnClimber
You really need to read the law. Heres a bit of unsolicited advice: If youre going to be this studiously ignorant of the law, you might want to keep quiet if you ever get into a scrape with a LEO.
There arent just two classifications of animals in the law. Livestock, as a legal term, is defined in the statutes just as Ive said. Bison/buffalo are not included in the definition. Just because an animal isnt included in the definition of livestock doesnt make it wild. A dog isnt included in the definition of livestock, yet no one would claim their neighbors dog coming onto their property is a case of a wild animal upon your property.
A wild animal is not only one that isnt owned by anyone. If the animal comes from domesticated blood lines, then a domesticated animal for whom there is no ownership claimed is called feral.
For example, many people get all weepy about the mustangs in the west. The truth of these horses is:
1. They, at one time, were livestock or domestic animals, depending on whether they were livestock or pets, respectively.
2. People turned them out and disclaimed ownership. At this point, they became feral.
3. Now people have hung the term wild horses on them, even tho if you catch them up and train them, you can work them pretty much like any other horse, disproving the notion that theyre wild. Theyre just domesticated animals that have been allowed to run loose, ie, feral, like stray dogs.
These bison sound like a domesticated (from a legal standpoint) herd. You cant make a bison do anything it doesnt want to do, but if the herd was obtained from other domestic bison herd owners, then these are domestic animals, not wild.
Back to the issue at hand:
There is no hunting license needed to shoot bison on deeded lands in Colorado; you can book a hunt (for money) on many private ranches throughout the west (Colorado included) and hunt bison. No license is needed, you just need to pay the ranch owner. There are (to my knowledge) only three truly wild herds of bison in the US that can be entered into B&C books; for these, you would need a license and to draw a tag.
Since these animals were owned privately, and were supposed to be on the adjoining deeded lands, they are not protected. Not even Yellowstones bison are protected. As soon as they wander outside the boundaries of the park, they can be (and often are) shot.
The issue in this case is one of destruction of personal property (that much is plain), and possibly conversion, ie, turning someone elses property into cash without a proper sale having taken place. This would/could apply if the person calling in the shooters took a fee for allowing the shooters access and opportunity to shoot the bison. Since each animal is worth in excess of $2,500 purely for the meat (which was allowed to go to waste) and probably several hundred dollars more for a tanned hide, taking nothing but the slaughter value amounts to a possible felony charge for each animal. As to any possible conversion - I dont know whether the DA would try to make the charge.
If the owner can show they were part of a breeding program, and that the female bison were pregnant, then he can also demand compensation for the calf crop he can document.
If the owner can show that he was selling animals based on bloodlines, then he could claim an even larger premium.
The DA, if he has half a brain, should cut through all the emotional crap hell be hearing about this and treat the animals the way he would a car that a neighbor burned up because the owner of said car parked on the offenders land. Theres clearly felony charges available to be made here, but not the ones you think.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2011092/posts?page=94#94
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05/04/2008 11:18:54 AM PDT · 19 of 104
NVDave to FORTRUTHONLY
First, I am NOT defending this guys actions. He violated a law in umpteen western states, and a felony charge can be brought in most all western states for what he has done.
That said, people who have never been around bison need to understand that theyre not simply bigger cows. Bison are not cows - not even remotely. Bison are a force of nature. Individually, theyre like a tornado. In a herd, theyre like a hurricane.
Ive seen bison push their way through Powder River gates (a brand of very high quality steel panels, gates, cattle handling equipment, etc). I dont mean that they ran into them and knocked the gate over. Im talking that the bison walked up to the locked gate, put his head down and pushed his way through. The bars on the gate simply spread like bars of butter and he simply pushed through.
Why did he do this? He wasnt mean. He simply wanted to be on the other side. Calm as a sunday school teacher.
On the other side, he proceeded to push over small (6 diameter pine trees as he used them as back scratchers. Bison are simply destructive. Youve heard the old saying about bull in a china shop?
Bulls are pussycats next to bison. And the whole world is a china shop for bison.
Theyre not cattle. A legal fence, per the code in western states, wont hold bison. In Jiggs, NV there used to be a smaller ranch where someone was running bison. They used 4 gas field casing pipe (3/8 wall steel pipe, 4 diameter) sunk 10 into the ground, and then they mounted galvanized steel guardrail on these pipes. The fence was six feet high.
That held them.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2011092/posts?page=19#19
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Sounds like Hawn needs a decade or so in the slammer to further his knowledge of Colorado law, and get his attitude adjusted.
More money than good sense.
The article says nothing of the kind. This dude is headed for a long stay in the Graybar Hotel.
If you lived within 500 miles of Greenville, you would be wrong.
Hey B4, what'd you have for breakfast this AM? I know that you know better than that. The slain critters were from a well established commercial ranch.
I can only assume that Hawn is a city-slicker carpet-bagging bully who thought that Colorado law did not apply to him, as he is from Austin Texas and a big-time CEO
Can you show me a Code of Colorado Regulation that specifically includes bison in the livestock definition?
1 CCR 201-5: ...Livestock means cattle, horses, mules, burros, sheep, lambs, poultry, swine, ostrich, llama, alpaca and goats or other animal raised for food, fiber or hide production, and alternative livestock under 35-41.5-102, C.R.S. but not pet animal as defined in 35-80-102(10), C.R.S.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2011092/posts?page=97#97
I am well aware of the local opinion. Had a discussion on the phone a few days ago about it.
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