Landowners can’t own exclusive rights to wild animals on their property, a judge has ruled in Wyoming. Texas millionaire Clayton Williams, owner of a 90,000-acre ranch in Carbon County, and three other Wyoming ranchers recently lost their challenge to a Wyoming law that says the state owns all wildlife as a trustee for its citizens (HCN, 2/21/94). District Judge Clarence Brimmer ruled that wild animals are “a sort of common property whose control and regulation are to be exercised as a trust for the benefit of the people.” The case is a victory for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, which organized a broad coalition of groups representing conservation interests, hunters, ranchers and outfitters. Jay Tutchton, the coalition’s lawyer, says that the ruling should send a message to members of the wise-use movement, discouraging them from pursuing similar actions. “None of their theories legally held water,” said Tutchton. The attorney for the ranchers, Karen Budd-Falen, tried to apply obscure common law to argue that Wyoming’s ownership claim took away her clients’ exclusive right to hunt without providing compensation. If the state owns the wildlife, Budd-Falen argued, then wild animals that eat grass on private property represent a “takings,” thereby violating Fifth Amendment property rights.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline In Wyoming, wildlife is public.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
