Quote:
Originally Posted by declansharbor
Where did you read/hear that it was a public hiking trail?
They reported it on the news as private property. They said authorities questioned the owner of the land but was cleared. I can definitely see a case in which the owner of the property became upset over the amount of dog $hit on his land and decided to do something about it, albeit the wrong way.
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I didn't see that. That would be worse for the owner of the land, then (although you say he's cleared - but now he's stuck as it's still his land, making him always legally tied to the case) because most states have even more strict laws regarding setting out of poison, what poisons can be used, baiting carcasses and traps, to kill feral things; and the responsibility to keep that from killing things you do not want to (even on your own land). So if some loser had access to his land to set out poisons, that's not very good for the owner, either.
States laws differ, of course. I know of two cases in Kentucky where owners set poisoning traps (both used antifreeze) out on their own suburban land (their backyards) to kill free roaming dogs and cats that were coming onto their property. One went to jail, one paid big fines. Not something you can do on a whim. When we hunt out west on private land (with permission), you have to be careful of the dogs as they will lace carcasses with different (legal) poisons to kill coyotes.
But there are poisons they can't use (yes, there are laws). The case in discussion reminds me of a poison that's no longer legally available - some farmers still have some left over in sheds.