5 colony men charged for grizzly bodies
Accused say bears died of ‘exhaustion’
Written by Michael Beall and Karl Puckett
Five men from the Pondera Hutterite Colony face misdemeanor charges in federal court for allegedly burying two grizzly bears that they say died from “exhaustion” in a corn field in September 2012.
Court records say that “half the colony” members had been outside chasing the bears prior to their deaths.
One of the bears may have been a research bear that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks had collared with a radio as part of a population trend study.
The colony is located on Montana 44, known as the Valier cut-across road, between Dupuyer and Valier, about 90 miles northwest of Great Falls.
Sam Kleinsasser, Daryl Kleinsasser, Jonathan Waldner, Ike Waldner and Tom Waldner will appear in court for two counts of illegal possession of a threatened species after special agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found the bears on colony property on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 of last year, based on information filed in U.S. District Court in Great Falls on June 6. Each face up to six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Brian Lakes, the agent from FWS, said the men committed the offenses. The case involves two grizzlies. One was a sow grizzly and the other was a yearling, Lakes said.
Agents interviewed Leonard Kleinsasser, who cut the corn for the colony. Leonard, who was not charged in the incident, said the two bears died from “exhaustion.” Both bears that died ran out of the corn fields. Leonard said the deaths were not reported because the members of the colony were scared, documents said.
On Nov. 14, 2012, special agents returned to the colony to interview several members and to acquire the two bear carcasses. Sam Kleinsassar, the colony dairy boss, said he saw the first grizzly lying in the middle of the cornfield, and he saw the second bear, which was trying to get up. Sam pulled the first bear down to the canal and removed the radio collar and did not contact authorities because he was scared, documents said.
Ike Waldner told authorities that he buried the second bear.
Daryl Kleinsasser saw the first grizzly bear dead, and said he destroyed the collar by burning it because he was afraid and not thinking. Daryl tried to cremate the second grizzly but eventually dug a hole and buried it, court records say.
In 2012, 20 grizzlies in Montana died as a result of humans and seven were illegal kills, according to FWS. The other causes were management removals resulting from conflicts, self defense, automobiles, trains, mistaken identification by black bear hunters and handling accidents by bear managers.
There were four bears illegally killed in 2011, two in 2010 and four in 2009.
Grizzly bears are listed as a threatened species and killing them, unless it’s in self defense, is illegal, said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“It’s important when grizzlies are illegally killed that the people who do it are brought to justice,” said Servheen.
Servheen, who is not involved in the criminal investigation, said he did not know the details on how the grizzlies on the Pondera Colony died.
Mike Madel, a grizzly bear management specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said FWP placed a collar on a female grizzly bear as part of a population trend study that’s in the works as part of efforts to remove federal protections from grizzlies. That grizzly bear disappeared last year.
“When I say disappeared, she went off the radar,” Madel said.
Madel, who also is not involved in the investigation, said he can’t say for sure whether that bear is the same sow that was found dead at the colony. At the time the bear disappeared, she had two yearlings.
FWP was called to the colony last summer and fall on two occasions after receiving reports of grizzly bears in the corn field, Madel said. At that time, FWP put up propane scare guns that sound like rifle shots to keep bears away. FWP officials also discussed ways in which electric fences could be put up around the corn fields, he said.
Madel said bears pull the corn down and eat it right off the cob, similar to raccoons.
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog and commented:
Grizzlies deserve justice.
Wow this is awful. Those poor bears, I hate to imagine what happened to them. I just learned that “Hutterites” are like Amish but of German decent while Amish are Dutch ancestry. It’s funny how certain “grass-fed organic meat” delusionalists long for “animal husbandry” to be done the “old way” as if that’s less torturous than “modern” ways, while the Amish practice those old ways religiously and are known for their horrendously cruel puppy mills, etc., generally treating animals purely as things with no sentience at all. Same as the corporate monsters. And the masses just sit back and think about buying more bacon from the supermarket. What I would do if I had the power…
Proof that there’s no such thing as “humanely raised”: anyone who truly cared about the rights or welfare of animals could never kill, slaughter and eat the beings they brought into the world.
There was a reality show a year or so ago on the Hutterites. They filmed them roasting their home grown and slaughtered pigs-they killed a cow on the show by shooting it as it was standing with it’s herd mates and there was the goose slaying and plucking. The camera zoomed in on a little boy who was horrified by the gore. I couldn’t watch the dumb show anymore. These people are bubba bumpkins and I am fed up being fed this trash from the TV-
I’d say, who the hell watches those shows (regularly), but unfortunately there are a lot of Bubbas who do.
Of course the show had to deride the vegan diet and had the Hutterites trying to eat tofu. They made all the appropriate faces of disgust and the children spit the food out on the plate. Vegans are just goofy. It seems this is the theme on these shows. Next show that should go the way of the dinosaurs is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman with it’s theme song Gopher Guts.
Anyone who saw that television series following life in a Montana Hutterite colony (and I’m almost ashamed to say I did watch a few of the episodes) could not fail but be impressed by the markedly deleterious effects inbreeding has on human intelligence!
Haha. So true. I watched it because I had never heard of Hutterites. Didn’t watch it for long. Not much on the menu these days-
Reblogged this on Carinas space and commented:
“Exhaustion!!” my a$$