ANIMAL PEOPLE is the
leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage
of animal protection worldwide. Founded in 1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has
no alignment or affiliation with any other entity.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville on May 3 upheld the 1991 state
ban on private possession of white-tailed deer. Game ranchers first brought
the law before the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 1997, lost, and tried
again with different arguments in 1999 and 2004.
District Judge Dorothy McCarter, of Helena, Montana, on May 2, 2005 ruled
that Initiative 143, which in 2000 outlawed game farming, was not an illegal
“taking” of private property. Her verdict paralleled the February
12 reasoning of District Judge David Rice, of Havre, in a parallel case.
Deer rancher Russell G. Bellar, of Peru, Indiana, in early May pleaded
guilty to three of 38 federal charges filed against him, including 35
counts of illegal interstate commerce in wildlife. U.S. District Judge
Allen Sharp assessed financial penalties against Bellar totaling $570,000
in fines, restitution, and court costs, and sentenced him to serve 366
days in prison. “Clients would often pay thousands of dollars to
shoot specific deer, sometimes in smaller pens, sometimes over bait,”
reported Rebecca S. Green of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. “In
some cases, the deer had been drugged. Clients included Ronnie Dunn, of
the country music duo Brooks & Dunn, and ESPN host Jimmy Houston,”
Green added.
Kris Kenneth Johnson, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in early May was
assessed $8,535 in fines and restitution by Michigan 93rd District Court
Judge Mark Luoma for illegally keeping elk, exotic deer, and state-owned
wild deer within an unlicensed 10-acre fenced enclosure.
