Update on Deer Slaughter by Snowmobilers

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090116/GPG0101/901160559/1207&located=RSS
A presumption of innocence?
God forgive me, but I am having a real hard time with those words this time...

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3 charged in killing of deer
Tips, reward offers lead investigators to 3 suspects
By John Lee • Gannett Wisconsin Media • January 16, 2009

WAUPACA — Several tips and reward offers that topped $12,000 helped county and state officials find the three Weyauwega men they say are responsible for the killing of five deer on a snowmobile trail last weekend.
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The first of the men, Nicholas Hermes, 22, of Weyauwega, was charged Thursday with five counts of animal cruelty, and two brothers, Robby Kuenzi, 23, and Rory Kuenzi, 24, both of Weyauwega, are scheduled to appear in court today on similar charges.

Rory Kuenzi also faces a felony theft charge after telling people the snowmobile he was riding that night was "borrowed." Police say it was reported stolen Dec. 26.

The three snowmobilers encountered the deer Friday night near Denmark Road in Lind, about five miles south of Waupaca. Hermes said he accidentally struck a deer, but the Kuenzi brothers began purposely chasing the deer down before running them over.

Hermes said he saw Rory Kuenzi at one point dragging a deer that had been roped to the sled.

Investigators found three of the deer in the field Saturday. A snowmobile had stopped atop one of them and ripped open its stomach, said Ted Dremel, a state Department of Natural Resources warden based in Waupaca County.

A fourth deer had broken legs and was euthanized, and the fifth deer had been dragged from the field and tied to a tree about 25 feet from a road. It strangled itself trying to get free.

The dead deer were two bucks and three does. One was a fawn.

State and county officials, speaking at a news conference Thursday after Hermes' court appearance, stressed the actions are not representative of snowmobilers.

"This is not a snowmobile incident," said Bob Sprenger, president of the Waupaca County Snowmobile Association, which raised a reward fund of $9,000 after the killings. "This is a crime committed with a snowmobile."

The three men could face more than the criminal charges, said state Department of Natural Resources regional Warden Byron Goetsch, because they are accused of killing wildlife.

"A myriad of regulations could apply," he said, including civil forfeitures and conservation charges.

What bothers Goetsch and other wardens, he said, is the apparent increase of "thrill killings" of wildlife, which he described as dangerous and illegal killings, typically out of season and with no intention of harvesting the kill.

He said the DNR just started tracking those crimes last June, and has so far identified 17 similar thrill killings in the past several years.

Hermes was released from jail on a $15,000 signature bond. He is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 27.

John Lee writes for The Post-Crescent of Appleton.

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More Info?
Police seek help
Investigators ask anyone with information on the recent deer killing to call the Waupaca County Crime Stoppers at (888) 258-9955, the Waupaca County Sheriff's Department at (715) 258-4466, or the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources hot line at (800) TIP-WDNR (800-847-9367).

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Here is an editorial which begins; "It's impossible for civilized people to read or hear the details of what sick people did to five deer and dozens of ducks in the past week without wondering what has become of us that such monsters exist..."
Taken from here: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090116/GPG0602/901160535/1207
NOTE: The writer concludes it very well too.

Thank God they have made a few arrests here...
Now, what should their punishments be?

XOXO
Me