| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
|
| News
Article - 10/16/99 |
 |
| |
|
|
Man
pleads innocent to bison-shooting charges
By Joan Haines- Bozeman Daily Chronicle
10/16/99
|
A
West Yellowstone man pleaded not guilty to each of three
charges alleging he hunted and killed a buffalo on his
property last month that he said was threatening his truck
and making him mad.
Dale Koelzer, 79, entered pleas to the three misdemeanor
charges before Justice of the Peace Gordon Smith Friday
morning in Gallatin County Justice Court. Smith released
him on his own recognizance. A trial date will be set
at a Dec. 13 hearing.
The buffalo was found on Koelzer's land Sept. 28 by Department
of Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden James Miller. The warden
was notified the carcass was there by Mike Mease, a member
of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group protesting the
capture and killing of buffalo that leave Yellowstone
National Park.
The animal's head, much of its hide and its genitals had
been removed.
"These people who live with buffalo day in and day
out are trapped between buffalo and bureaucrats,"
said Bill Bartlett of Bozeman, Koelzer's lawyer.
If Koelzer is found guilty, he could be sentenced to 6
months in jail on each of the three charges and could
face more than $3,000 in fines, said prosecutor Todd Whipple,
a deputy county attorney.Koelzer opted for a jury trial,
but Bartlett said he has not decided whether to stay with
the jury decision or request that only a judge decide
the case.
The buffalo leave Yellowstone Park looking for food when
the snow gets deep. Once they enter Montana, a state and
federal agreement allows them to be killed because some
carry brucellosis, a disease that can cause cows to abort.
The trap where many of the animals are held until they
can be tested to learn whether they have brucellosis is
on Koelzer's land. Buffalo Field Campaign members have
protested the state's buffalo policies near the trap.
The complaint alleges Koelzer hunted a wild buffalo Sept.
27 on his land during a closed season and allegedly shot
it with a 30.06 rifle. He is charged with abandoning the
carcass, which was suitable for food, in the field that
day.
Koelzer also is charged with possession of an unlawfully
killed animal on or about Sept. 30 when he "possessed
the head, hide and cape of a wild buffalo."
He told a Department of Livestock employee that he had
not shot the bull, but found the carcass on his land.
Later he called DOL state veterinarian Arnold Gertonson
and admitted he had killed the buffalo on his property.
In a phone interview with a Chronicle reporter, Koelzer
said he had not killed the buffalo illegally. The buffalo
wasn't harassing livestock, but it was "harassing
my truck," he said. "It was ready to attack."
The buffalo is defined by FWP as a game animal. DOL has
jurisdiction over them because of disease issues and concern
over brucellosis.
A case similar to Koelzer's occurred in 1995 when Roland
Whitman of West Yellowstone shot two buffalo in his backyard.
Whitman, 82 at the time, said he shot the buffalo after
the animals came in his yard by breaking a fence and chased
one of his horses. He intended to drive them away rather
than kill them, he said.
He had been feeding elk hay on his property, a practice
condemned by FWP because it leads to spread of disease.
But Whitman didn't want buffalo eating on his land. FWP
officials said they wouldn't shoot buffalo that came onto
his feed grounds because they probably were attracted
there by the hay.
Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of illegally killing
a bison if Whitman stayed out of trouble for six months.
He was defended by Bartlett.
Top
of Page |
|
|
|
|
|
|
