192 lines
8.8 KiB
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192 lines
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From sentto-2242572-60159-1038784998-jm=jmason.org@returns.groups.yahoo.com Mon Dec 2 11:25:18 2002
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To: Bigfoot! <lcolema1@maine.rr.com>
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Date: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 18:22:25 -0500
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Subject: [zzzzteana] Hit a Bigfoot in Maine? You own it!
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http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/021201moose.shtml
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Maine Sunday Telegram
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Portland, Maine
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Sunday, December 1, 2002
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Driver who hit moose fights county over meat
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By GISELLE GOODMAN, Portland Press Herald Writer
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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via http://www.lorencoleman.com
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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ACTON <20> In her freezer at home, Lisa Pierce has ground beef and roasts,
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frozen vegetables and french fries, even a couple of Popsicles. What she
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doesn't have is the meat of the moose she hit and killed with her car on
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Nov. 5, the moose that was rightfully hers, but instead went to a neighbor.
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The lack of it has her embroiled in a fight with the York County Sheriff's
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Department to get back what she says she is owed.
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"I think the deputy thought he was doing me a favor," said Pierce. "I'm a
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woman and he just neglected to think that I would want it. The moose is
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gone, I know that now. I want to be compensated for the meat."
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Whether or not that happens is uncertain. Her experience, though, highlights
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a law some Mainers may not be aware of, but should get to know during this
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peak time of deer-versus-car accidents, as the animals, in their mating
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season, come out of the woods.
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The law is simple: A big-game carcass caught by a car - be it a moose, deer
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or bear - goes to the person who hits it, as long as a law enforcement
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officer is called to the scene and the vehicle is damaged in the accident.
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It comes up quite often in Maine, say officials. Last year, there were 4,055
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cases of vehicles and deer colliding on Maine roads and 600 accidents
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involving moose, according to Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Warden
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Service.
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"In a state of what, 1.4 million, with only 215,000 licensed hunters, I
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don't know how many motor vehicle drivers would know how to dress out a
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moose," said Latti. "You do have the option of keeping it."
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Which, for some people, can be valuable compensation for a damaged car.
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Farm-grown deer meat can retail for $8 to $20 per pound in stores. And a
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butchered or dressed moose, which can't be bought or sold anywhere in Maine,
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can produce hundreds of pounds of food.
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Latti said when it comes to moose, the law has been abused since its
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inception in 1991. Every now and then an officer will issue a summons to a
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driver for intentionally killing a moose with a car. That kind of "hunting"
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makes no sense to Latti.
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Hitting a moose, even at a slow speed, is no laughing matter. Large adult
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moose can weigh up to 1,500 pounds and can be more than 9 feet tall. Since
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the bulk of their weight is above the hood level of most cars, their bodies
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often come crashing through windshields in collisions. More often than not,
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crashes like these damage the vehicle, the people inside and the animal.
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Sometimes they are fatal. In 1998, Latti said, there were six moose-related
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fatalities. After that, when the number of moose-hunting permits went from
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2,000 to 3,000, there were less. Maine had three moose-related fatalities in
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2000, one in 2001 and two this year so far, said Stephen McCausland,
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spokesman for the Maine Public Safety Department.
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Pierce considers herself lucky that she and the three children in her car
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did not become part of that statistic early on Election Day. But she also
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feels cheated by the whole situation. After all, her car was totaled.
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On the morning of the accident, Pierce was taking her two children and a
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neighbor's son to school in her 1991 Dodge Dynasty. She said she was going
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along at about 35 mph on a well-traveled road, when a moose came out of
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nowhere.
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"By the time my brain could see moose, he was part of my windshield," she
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said.
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Pierce is well aware of the law, so as she sat in the ambulance with the
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children, being treated for cuts and bruises, she thought about the moose.
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But the four of them were transferred to the hospital before she could deal
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with it, so she said she wasn't able to follow up on the animal until later
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that day.
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When she inquired, she was told the deputy on the scene gave the
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fully-racked bull moose to a neighbor who showed up with a tractor.
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Her neighbor, she said, subsequently offered her the moose for the $100 it
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took him to carry it away, money she didn't think she should spend. By the
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time she contacted the Attorney General's Office on Nov. 12 to complain
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about the deputy giving her moose away, the neighbor's price had gone up
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another $300 for the cost of butchering 450 pounds of meat.
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And when she called York County Chief Deputy Maurice Ouellette to complain
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that she should be compensated for the moose because it was the officer's
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fault that she didn't have it, Ouellette told her he could not give her cash
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and the best he could do was to give her the next moose struck in York
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County.
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"At that point in time it became an issue of not wanting moose anymore, but
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wanting money," Ouellette said.
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That conversation, and a similar one she had with York County Sheriff Phil
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Cote, left Pierce enraged and she now feels the issue has gone beyond the
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moose.
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But the circumstances that brought her to this point are not surprising to
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other officials.
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"It's the officer's discretion," said Latti. "And if the officer feels the
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person can't immediately remove (the animal), he's got to think of public
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safety and other people on the roadway. If someone is worried about her
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children in her car, the last thing a law enforcement officer wants to ask
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is if she wants the moose."
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Maine State Police Trooper Jeremy Forbes said when he arrives at accidents
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that involve a serious injury to a person, the issue of who gets the animal,
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deer or moose, becomes secondary.
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"The priorities are the injuries and getting people to the hospital," he
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said. "If they are really hurt and going to the hospital, the animal can't
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wait, so we'll probably give it to the next person who stops by."
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This is not comforting to Pierce. She said the deputy could have come to the
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ambulance and asked her what she wanted to do with the moose. With her
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boyfriend, a hunter, nearby, she could have easily taken care of the animal
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herself.
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She knows her situation is probably a lost cause. But she hopes other
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people, especially other women, do not have the same experience.
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"What about people who don't know the law?" she said. "Standing up for my
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rights has just been a big headache."
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Staff Writer Giselle Goodman can be contacted at 324-4888 or at:
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ggoodman@pressherald.com
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