The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is expected to join the probe of last week’s shooting of 32 bison south of Hartsel.
Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore said Tuesday he has formally requested CBI’s help.
Gore said he expects the CBI to concentrate on examining forensic evidence gathered from the carcasses of the 32 bison owned by ranchers Monte and Tracy Downare.
The dead bison were found on the Hawn Ranch, some other private properties and federal lands.
“This is a very complex case. It involves just a lot of players. Due to the size of it . . . it is going to take a while to basically do the work we need to do,” Gore said.
The shootings of the Downare bison happened just days after an Austin, Texas, businessman, Jeff Hawn, filed suit in Park County District Court, claiming Downare’s bison were stampeding onto his property in South Park.
Hawn, who identifies himself as 50 percent shareholder and manager of Wateredge Properties, claims that the bison repeatedly broke through fences erected to keep them off the property, damaging or destroying the fences in 50 places.
“The damage that (Downare’s) buffalo have caused to the property is staggering,” the lawsuit said.
It also alleged the bison knocked the TV and satellite Internet dishes off-line and damaged solar panels.
The Downares have said they won’t comment because of the criminal investigation.
Stephen Csajaghy, a lawyer for the firm that represents Hawn, said neither he nor Hawn would comment.
Csajaghy alleges in the lawsuit, however, that repeated requests by Hawn to the Downares to keep their bison off Hawn property have been for naught.
“. . .(the Downares) have made very little effort to prevent the buffalo from further breaking through the fence and damaging the property,” the lawsuit says.
“In fact, the (Downares) have stated that they will take little action to prevent further intrusions of their buffalo onto the property.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
