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Niblo vs QB Ranch Texas: Jackie Doyle Hill Kills 51 Stray Buffalo
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by Liz McKibbon | March 23, 2010 at 10:02 am
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Fifty-one stray buffalo property of QB ranch and Wayne Kirk in west Texas wers shot by neighboring Niblo Ranch foreman Jackie Doyle Hill.
Over a two day period, Hill shot and killed all 51 of the buffalo and left them to rot. Hill admitted to killing the animals and is now being charged with criminal mischief and damage to property. Hill has confessed, but pleads 'not guilty' to the charge.
Hill's lawyer, Regan Wynn says, 'The real question in this case is not so much, 'Why did Mr. Hill shoot 51 buffalo?' It's, 'Why did a landowner bring 200 head of wild animal onto his property and not fence them in correctly?'
Ranching Rules
Most say Hill should have let QB Ranch know about the loose buffalo rather than shooting them. Visitors to the ranch pay about $3,500 to hunt a buffalo, a significant financial loss. Kirk calls the death of the animals a 'terrible injustice'.
On the other hand, some ranchers say that Hill was in the right because buffalo are large creatures and can be destructive so it was self-defense and protection of property in the wild west.
Buffalo are considered indigenous animals, so they do not fall under the same laws as livestock. Under Texas law, Hill might not have broken any laws by killing the animals and might be convicted with little or no penalty.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 10:40 on March 27th, 2010
"indigenous animals"? When was the last time that there was a herd of buffalo in Texas that hadn't been purchased by someone? Hasn't happened since the railroads were originally put in and that was roughly late 1860's. By the late 1880's the species had been wiped out in the wild (entire Great Plains from Canada to Mexico).The area where this happened is open range. This means if you don't want your neighbors livestock (or exotic wildlife) on YOUR property FENCE THEM OUT. If they keep getting through the fence, put up a better one.Buffalo seem to fall into a "crack" (for lack of a better word) in the laws of Texas. They aren't livestock (although bought and sold the same as) and they aren't exotic species (which maybe they should be considered). The laws in Texas are real specific about what you can do to the neighbors exotic wildlife that gets on your property. Which is nothing. If you shoot them you get to explain it to a judge. Then you can explain it to the guards at the crow bar hotel. And the other residences of same.