Aaronjhanson
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From my local news paper
A Fort Collins man faces a charge of illegal sale of wildlife after he sold a bighorn ram's skull that he told an undercover officer he found in Poudre Canyon, according to an arrest affidavit.
William Robert Sutton, 39, of Fort Collins posted an ad on Craigslist and sold the skull to the officer for $350 in May 2010, according to the affidavit obtained by the Colora-doan on Wed-nesday.
In Colorado, it's illegal to sell a ram's skull if it hasn't been tagged through Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
"Unfortunately, bighorn sheep are poached quite a bit, so that's why we work so hard to track them," said parks and wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.
Even if the animal is taken legally by a hunter, it must be cleared by the wildlife department before it can be sold. Sutton was arrested Saturday and later released on $350 bond, according to Colorado court records. It is unclear why he was arrested more than a year after the alleged sale. Churchill said she didn't have information about the specific case and could only speak to the way rams are handled in Colorado.
Sutton told the undercover officer in May that he found the ram's carcass and believed it to be a mountain-lion kill, according to the affidavit. He checked with a parks and wildlife representative and was told he could keep it, but it would be illegal to sell without being plugged.
Churchill said anyone who finds a dead ram in the wild "should call us right away."
Sutton is charged with a Class 5 felony punishable by up to three years in prison and fines up to $100,000.
Calls to a listing for Sutton reached a number that had been disconnected.
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20111020/NEWS01/110200367/Man-charged-selling-ram-skull-Internet?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
A Fort Collins man faces a charge of illegal sale of wildlife after he sold a bighorn ram's skull that he told an undercover officer he found in Poudre Canyon, according to an arrest affidavit.
William Robert Sutton, 39, of Fort Collins posted an ad on Craigslist and sold the skull to the officer for $350 in May 2010, according to the affidavit obtained by the Colora-doan on Wed-nesday.
In Colorado, it's illegal to sell a ram's skull if it hasn't been tagged through Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
"Unfortunately, bighorn sheep are poached quite a bit, so that's why we work so hard to track them," said parks and wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill.
Even if the animal is taken legally by a hunter, it must be cleared by the wildlife department before it can be sold. Sutton was arrested Saturday and later released on $350 bond, according to Colorado court records. It is unclear why he was arrested more than a year after the alleged sale. Churchill said she didn't have information about the specific case and could only speak to the way rams are handled in Colorado.
Sutton told the undercover officer in May that he found the ram's carcass and believed it to be a mountain-lion kill, according to the affidavit. He checked with a parks and wildlife representative and was told he could keep it, but it would be illegal to sell without being plugged.
Churchill said anyone who finds a dead ram in the wild "should call us right away."
Sutton is charged with a Class 5 felony punishable by up to three years in prison and fines up to $100,000.
Calls to a listing for Sutton reached a number that had been disconnected.
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20111020/NEWS01/110200367/Man-charged-selling-ram-skull-Internet?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
