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Ranching, recreation collide in the great outdoors
Los Angeles Times ^ | November 27, 2009 | Nicholas Riccardi

Posted on 11/28/2009 4:13:30 PM PST by missycocopuffs

Reporting from Camp Hale, Colo. - As soon as Renee Legro saw the sheep, she screamed.

The herd, 1,300 strong, has been coming for 30 years to graze in this valley on the backside of the Continental Divide. But as Colorado has become an adventure sports destination, the once-empty valley has filled with hikers, campers and mountain bikers like Legro, and she was about to tragically embody the collision of the old West with the new.

Legro, 33, screamed because she knew what came with the herd -- guard dogs. Shortly after she rolled down a hill and came upon the sheep, a dog leaped at her, locked its jaws on her hip and yanked her off her bike.

A second dog pounced as she fell. The two enormous canines, powerful enough to fend off bears, tore at her until her cries drew two campers who drove them off. The emergency-room doctor lost count of how many stitches she required.

To Legro and her husband, Steve, there was one person responsible -- Sam Robinson. One of a dwindling number of sheepherders in Colorado's mountains, Robinson, 54, turned to guard dogs a decade ago, after the state banned the use of traps to prevent mountain lions, coyotes and bears from destroying herds.

"We don't have any other option," Robinson said.

The Legros see things differently. In their years of hiking, biking and skiing the magnificent open spaces near Vail, they have fled from ranchers' dogs several times. "I cannot bring my dog up to the forest and let it run wild and attack people," said Steve Legro, 37. "Neither should anyone else."

They wanted Robinson charged with a crime.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: dogs; g74; livestock; livestockguardian; ranching; recreation; sheep
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1 posted on 11/28/2009 4:13:32 PM PST by missycocopuffs
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To: missycocopuffs

(sigh)


2 posted on 11/28/2009 4:18:17 PM PST by vladimir998
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To: missycocopuffs

So when did sheepherders start using Pit Bulls for herding sheep...


3 posted on 11/28/2009 4:18:42 PM PST by tubebender (Some minds are like concrete Thoroughly mixed up and permanently set...)
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To: missycocopuffs
But instead, the couple from Vail were charged with being Yuppie while outdoors, criminally stupid and sheep abusers.

(did I miss anything)

IF you are going too fast to avoid a herd that size, you are going too fast.

Second, they knew the herd had guard dogs, yet still went into the herd.

3rd - I dunno about you - but if I know there are “mountain lions, wolves, etc” in them thar hills, I carry an equalizer, I perfer the kind that start with the number 4.

4 posted on 11/28/2009 4:19:55 PM PST by ASOC (Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui)
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To: missycocopuffs

The same kind of folks who would sue the appropriate agency or entity if they were molested by bears, mountain lions, badgers, etc.


5 posted on 11/28/2009 4:21:08 PM PST by Jagdgewehr
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To: ASOC

” But instead, the couple from Vail were charged with being Yuppie while outdoors, criminally stupid and sheep abusers.”

.. and those were the polite charges


6 posted on 11/28/2009 4:21:59 PM PST by SF_Redux
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To: tubebender
Weren't pit bulls.

The libs are the ones acting like pit bulls.

7 posted on 11/28/2009 4:22:09 PM PST by sionnsar (IranAzadi|5yst3m 0wn3d-it's N0t Y0ur5:SONY|Remember Neda Agha-Soltan|TV--it's NOT news you can trust)
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To: missycocopuffs
To Legro and her husband, Steve, there was one person responsible -- Sam Robinson. One of a dwindling number of sheepherders in Colorado's mountains, Robinson, 54, turned to guard dogs a decade ago, after the state banned the use of traps to prevent mountain lions, coyotes and bears from destroying herds.

It obviously couldn't be they who are responsible. Them missing the state's culpability means they are libs for certain.

8 posted on 11/28/2009 4:23:44 PM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: missycocopuffs
“”I cannot bring my dog up to the forest and let it run wild and attack people,” said Steve Legro, 37. “Neither should anyone else.”

People making a real living and raising your food, have a right to.
Go somewhere else.

9 posted on 11/28/2009 4:24:20 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (The End of an Error - 01/20/2013)
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To: missycocopuffs

Hey it could have been a guard llama, think hooves and teeth.


10 posted on 11/28/2009 4:27:23 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: SF_Redux
” But instead, the couple from Vail were charged with being Yuppie while outdoors, criminally stupid and sheep abusers.”

There is a ring of truth in that statement.

The gal is from Chicago - would she decide to ride her bike alone through a tough neighborhood after dark?

The mountains have their own hazards - I've lived in the Colorado mountains, and there are things you need to know that you just don't do - such as hiking through avalance chutes in the winter (but some idiots ski down them). She chose to disregard those hazards and keep riding into dusk to feed her ego. And when she got hurt, it was someone else's fault, instead of a result of her own bad judgement. What if the bike broke and she spilled and hit her head on a rock - would that have been the bike manufacturer's fault?

11 posted on 11/28/2009 4:28:40 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: ASOC
Old video of wolves attacking sheep Yes, I'd definitely be carrying something to protect myself in wolf country...
12 posted on 11/28/2009 4:30:20 PM PST by missycocopuffs
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To: ASOC
. . .the couple from Vail were charged with being Yuppie while outdoors, criminally stupid and sheep abusers.

I wish! Instead, the sheepherder was found guilty. He was supposed to have taught his guard dogs to attack mountain lions and coyotes but not strange creatures on bicycles who might also look as though they were attacking the herd. And the suburbanites who think they have some kind of right to wreck someone else's life and ruin their livelihood while in pursuit of recreation didn't even get a cross look aimed at them. The poor sheepherder must be heartbroken. Damn suburban liberals, I hate them. (How much do you want to bet those were Obama voters?)

13 posted on 11/28/2009 4:31:16 PM PST by ottbmare (I could agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.)
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To: ottbmare
How much do you want to bet those were Obama voters?

A very logical presumption.

14 posted on 11/28/2009 4:34:16 PM PST by Jagdgewehr
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To: ottbmare

Skiing over by Salt Lake City a few years ago, my husband and I saw posted signs along a trail indicating that livestock guardian dogs were in the area and what to do if one encountered them—slowly back off—and I actually felt better knowing that the dogs were in the area.


15 posted on 11/28/2009 4:36:23 PM PST by missycocopuffs
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To: ottbmare

I was being a bit of a punk - if you keeping working dogs you also have the responsibility to train them to not atack human - except on command. The Numi opened a freeking “dog park “ in the park across the street from me and I now I have to chase the blanky-blanks out of yard all the time.


16 posted on 11/28/2009 4:41:17 PM PST by ASOC
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To: missycocopuffs

In town it’s a carry pistol, when we get on the outskirts of town - were we have a well known wolve problem, I carry the 1200 - nothing like a pump gun to say goodbye to critters.

We don’t have pets and if we take the grandkids camping, ALL of the adults carry something that starts with 4 - or bigger.

I was hoping Santy Klaus would bring a Bushmaster 450 this year, but it looks ike that ain’t going to happen....


17 posted on 11/28/2009 4:46:01 PM PST by ASOC (Like CONgress, this space is for Sale or Rent)
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To: missycocopuffs
I have spent hundreds of hours in the CO Rockies, seen lots of sheep and made friends with sheep herders. I've never seen any with dogs nor would I fear their dogs if I ran into them. But I doubt that I would provoke the dogs by plowing through a herd of sheep on a bicycle.

I have been run off of trails by obnoxious bike riders though. The bikes also cause trail erosion making the trails rocky and rutted.

18 posted on 11/28/2009 4:50:58 PM PST by TigersEye (Sarah Palin 2010 - We Can't Afford To Wait)
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To: ASOC

Sister’s husband supervised sheep herders. I visited them and came across multiple sheep flocks with their herders and sheep dogs. As long as I did not do something stupid like riding a bike into the herd or screaming and rushing the herd, the dogs (and herder) was no threat.

Deer hunted in the mts many years. Common to encounter sheep herds w/dogs and herders. In and around the sheep, etc multiple times. As long as I did nothing brain dead like charging into the sheep or anything along those lines, the dogs did not view me as a threat and so no problems.

But then again, I never acted like a stupid, brain-dead, Liberal and charged the sheep yelling/screaming/etc. Maybe if I had acted like an idiot, then different.

Not sure, as not brain dead around animals, having hunted around sheep/dogs/herdersa and worked farms/ranches.


19 posted on 11/28/2009 4:51:35 PM PST by OldArmy52 (The German High Command sent Lenin to destabilize Russia. Who sent Obama?)
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To: Jagdgewehr

“As soon as Renee Legro saw the sheep, she screamed...and rolled down the hill at the sheep anyway (screaming....sounds like her best rendition of a Banzai attack).

So, she screamed and on the bike charged into the sheep herd at speed anyway. Too dumb to live obviously. She obviously is a person who would get into trouble at a childrens’ petting zoo.


20 posted on 11/28/2009 4:54:39 PM PST by OldArmy52 (The German High Command sent Lenin to destabilize Russia. Who sent Obama?)
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