Quote:
Originally Posted by MathGeek
It seems to me like the PH may have knowingly violated the law, but there has been no evidence to show that the American hunter knew his guide was setting up an illegal hunt.
Is an American angler breaking the law if he steps onto a guide's boat and the guide takes him to a spot that is in provate water and they are trespassing? I don't think so. There is a legal concept called mens rae.
Another example in American law would be a guide taking a customer to hunt waterfowl over a baited field. Should the customer be found guilty if the guide knew the field was baited but the customer was simply tricked by the guide?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea
Customers trust their guides to keep them in compliance with the local laws. |
I may be in the minority, but I feel at least that it is my responsibility to ask those questions. Does the PH have the necessary paperwork? Is there a quota? If he lies, then its the old "fool me once, shame on you" situation.
Maybe he did ask those things, I don't know. But again, Palmer's record speaks for itself. He has violated hunting laws in the past. Is that an indication that he knowingly did anything wrong here? No. But I believe he isn't going to get the benefit of the doubt like someone who has never broken a law before.
Also, if he killed a lion when there was no quota or limit, then yes, he did break the law, whether the PH deceived him or not. I'm sure there is a government agency that he could have checked with to determine if there were quotas for the given area. And again, maybe he did check that, and he was deceived. I'm not sure how the system works over there, but it would seem he could have found out some of this information.
Would you go on a sandhill crane hunt in Louisiana without first determining whether you could legally kill a sandhill crane in Louisiana? I wouldn't. If I just assumed because you can kill them in Texas that you can kill them in Louisiana, I would be wrong.
To me, its no different than buying something. You research it first before you buy it. If you still get screwed in the end, then at least you did your research and
thought you were making a good purchase. There will always be deceiving people in the world. You just have to try and defend yourself against them.