Dan Richards, Happy Cougar Hunter, Doesn't Have to Pay a Fine for His Kill

By Erin Sherbert Fri., Apr. 13 2012 at 7:29 AM

Is a better hunter than he is a bureaucrat

Animal lovers and Dan Richards haters will be unhappy when they hear the news that the state's Fish and Game chief who was busted hunting a mountain lion in Idaho earlier this year, dodged having to pay a fine for his killing excursion.

According to press reports, yesterday Richards received nothing more than a warning from California regulators, who decided against fining him over the mountain lion hunting trip he took earlier this year.

The Fair Political Practices Commission confirmed that Richards, a Republican from SoCal, violated the state's $420 gift limit when he accepted that $6,800 hunting trip in January from Flying B Ranch in Idaho. And although Richards repaid the ranch, he waited until after the required 30-day window for repayment. That means he could easily be slapped with a $5,000 fine, but wasn't.

Here's how the FPPC explains its decision.

Your actions violated the act because you received a gift over the limit. However, because you did repay the donor relatively soon after receipt of the gift, although after the 30-day window for repayment prescribed by the act, we have decided to close this case.

As readers probably recall, Richards, the president of the California Fish & Game Commission, was heavily criticized for his callous hunting trip he took to Idaho, where it's perfectly legal to hunt and kill mountain lions. There, Richards killed a nice-sized cougar and proudly posed in this photo next to his kill before allegedly devouring it for supper. The photo circulated the Internet, and got back to his home state of California, where it's illegal to hunt and kill cougars.

Animal activists denounced his hypocrisy, and pressured the cougar killer to resign from his post as Fish and Game chief. He not only refused, but then wrote a scathing letter to the state legislature, telling them that what he does in Idaho is none of their business. Of course, that raises the question ... what else did he do Idaho?

So Richards might have gotten away with it this time, but it might not be over yet. Last we heard, the state's unforgiving Democrats were still plotting ways to hunt Richards down, politically speaking.

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Tags:

animal lovers, cougar killer, Dan Richards, Fair Policitcal Practices Commission, Idaho

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Deefaut

He violated the stated policy and isn't being fined? He obviously is exempt from state policies.

Elizabethfrantes

Ya know . ..used to be, sex tourists in Thailand and elsewhere said that since what they were doing, mostly sex with children, was legal there, it shouldn't be held against them. This is the same thing. So, should the law that makes it a crime in the usa for a citizen to have sex outside of the usa with a child be revoked? It is the very same principal. It's clear he is interested in wildlife so he can kill it. Sort of like how those polygamits raise more daughters to rape.

____

I don't see the same howling by blacks when blacks are victimized, stalked, targeted and murdered by other blacks.

bigriggs

Why is this even a story?

NewsDog

The head of Fish & Game actually goes hunting and people are upset. Here's some irony for you. When Ann Richards ( a woman who was a damn good wing shot) was the Gov of Texas she appointed an anti-hunter to the Parks & Wildlife Commision here. You should have heard the howling and outrage.