| Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
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| News
Article - 7/06/00 |
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| Koelzer
found guilty only of wasting game meat
By Joan Haines, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
7/06/00
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West Yellowstone's Dale Koelzer was found guilty Wednesday
of wasting a game animal but innocent of illegal hunting
when he shot and killed a buffalo Sept. 27 on his land.
The six-person jury declared the 80-year-old Koelzer not
guilty of unlawful hunting during a closed season or possessing
an unlawfully killed animal.
Koelzer first denied he shot the bull on his Duck Creek
property, then admitted he killed it, fearing the animal
was about to ram his pickup truck.
The carcass was discovered on Koelzer's property just
outside Yellowstone National Park by members of the Buffalo
Field Campaign, a group protesting the killing of buffalo
when they leave the park and enter Montana. Buffalo Field
Campaign members notified the Montana Department of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks, saying they had a video of the carcass.
The jury arrived at the unanimous verdict after considering
the case for just 45 minutes following a four-hour trial
in Justice of the Peace Scott Wyckman's court.
Koelzer was fined $320 on the charge of wasting game meat.
Bill Bartlett, Koelzer's lawyer, and Deputy County Attorney
Todd Whipple, the prosecutor in the case, will file arguments
on state
laws requiring suspension of fishing and hunting privileges.
The judge will then decide whether those privileges should
be suspended.
After the verdict, Koelzer said, "I don't think I
was guilty of anything, but you have to go by what the
jury decides."
Whipple said "the jury weighed the evidence and came
to a verdict which was probably appropriate under the
facts and circumstances.
"Our ultimate goal was to hold Mr. Koelzer accountable
for his conduct," Whipple said. "I think there's
no doubt the jury told him what he did was wrong and the
jury sent a message that he will be held accountable for
such conduct in the future."
Buffalo have been shot by government agencies in Montana
because some carry brucellosis, a disease which causes
cows to abort. The state Department of Livestock and ranchers
fear Montana could lose its brucellosis-free status if
a buffalo were to transmit the disease to
cattle. That has never happened in the wild, buffalo advocates
point out. The brucellosis bacteria also can be transmitted
to humans in the form of undulant fever.
Bartlett said his client was caught in a "buffalo
imbroglio" between two state agencies. The issue
is which agency is in charge -- the Department of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks or the Department of Livestock -- when
the animals enter Montana. A 1995 law transferred state
bison management authority from FWP to DOL.
It's a confusing issue, Bartlett said. It appears that
where a buffalo issue has to do with disease, DOL is in
charge. "If buffalo and people are involved, FWP
is in charge."
During the trial, Koelzer testified he had tried to herd
the bull away from his barn twice with his pickup, and
the third time the animal made a "half-charge"
toward his truck. "Buffalo aren't worth much,"
he said. "There are plenty of them. When my truck
was in danger, too bad for the buffalo."
After killing the buffalo, Koelzer notified his friend
John Nunnes of West Yellowstone that the carcass was on
his land and asked if Nunnes wanted to deal with the animal.
"I was going to cape it out and quarter it up,"
Nunnes said. "Dale said it was an older bull, probably
tough. I decided not to butcher it." He took the
partial cape and the head to his home, but returned it
to Koelzer when he learned an investigation was ongoing.
During the trial, Koelzer said he didn't tell FWP officials
he had shot the animal because in past years FWP had objected
to his feeding elk, which created bad blood between him
and some FWP officials. He intended to notify DOL officials
in Helena within 72 hours that he had shot the buffalo
rather than the West Yellowstone DOL worker who questioned
him about the killing.
The state Department of Livestock keeps a trap on Koelzer's
land, and tests buffalo for brucellosis there. Those that
test positive for the disease are slaughtered and those
that test negative are released back into the park.
Koelzer said he had killed three other buffalo on his
Duck Creek land, two with DOL permission, because he feared
they would hurt his horses.
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