FAIRPLAY, Colo.—More than 30 bison that were killed by hunters in southern Colorado had wandered off their owner’s ranch and were on government land and private property when they were shot, investigators said Friday.
Park County sheriff’s deputies found 32 bison carcasses on Thursday, a day after a 911 caller reported they were being shot.
Sheriff Fred Wegener said about a dozen hunters claimed they had permission to shoot the bison. They were questioned and released but could face charges of cruelty to animals, he said.
He declined to release their names.
Bison are considered a domesticated species and are not covered by hunting and wildlife laws, said Tyler Baskfield, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
“This is not the state’s wildlife. This would not be regulated by us in any way,” he said.
Dave Carter, executive director of the Denver-based National Bison Association, a bison-ranching industry group, said because the animals are not considered wildlife, no permit is required to hunt them.
“Let’s put it this way, there is no season on bison,” he said.
The state Department of Agriculture also said it has no jurisdiction over what happens to bison on private or public land.
Wegener said the bison belonged to Monte Downare. Downare did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press Friday.
The sheriff said the animals wandered off Downare’s property and onto another ranch and land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
Dave Hayes, president of the Rocky Mountain Buffalo Association, said Downare had told him a few weeks ago that deep snow had allowed some of the animals to wander.
“All I remember him saying is that they’ve got so much snow they had the buffalo going over the fences,” said Hayes, whose organization aims to educate people about bison.
Downare has advertised organized bison hunting on his ranch in the past, but Hayes said he doesn’t think these shootings were planned.
“Somebody is probably in a lot of trouble,” he said.
Carter, of the National Bison Association, said the case is unusual because of the number of bison and the way they were killed.
“It seems like it was done pretty wastefully,” Carter said.
He said the slaughter was inhumane.
“Just the way that they were scattered about,” he said. “You could tell that they were just standing there grazing.”
