December 14, 2013
From ADN.com
WASILLA — An Alaska wildlife trooper has been named the defendant in a lawsuit that claims he and his trapping partner violated the law when they set snares for fox and coyote on private property without permission.
Central Gravel Products owners Nicolene Jordan and Mark Loomis filed the civil lawsuit against Trooper John Cyr for “multiple trespasses and creation of an ongoing nuisance” on land they lease in a suburban area near Colony High School.
The complaint, which Talkeetna attorney Paul Brattan filed Thursday in Palmer Superior Court, also lists as a defendant Rick Ellis, Cyr’s trapping partner and a past president of the Alaska Frontier Trappers Association.
Ellis said Friday he hadn’t yet been served and declined to comment. Cyr previously instructed a reporter to contact Ellis for any comments. He is a wildlife trooper based out of Palmer.
Jordan and Loomis in mid-November discovered at least 38 snares in an old potato field on 160 acres leased for years from landowner Ralph Kircher.
Neither they nor Kircher ever gave the trappers permission to enter the property, both said last month.
They also found several moose heads and what looked like the body of a moose calf used as bait, according to the complaint. Boot prints led in and out of the property about 200 feet from a sign marking the entrance to the gravel company.
Even if the court doesn’t find that Cyr and Ellis violated criminal law, they are still liable for civil trespass and creating a nuisance with the snares and carcasses, which could draw animals to the site in close proximity to a school, the complaint says.