These ones were born in Hawaii. I have a certificate of live birth to prove it.
Ah, I found the story was thinking of (and greatly misremembering, as it turns out).
and
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Texas_Buffalo_Slaughter_Renews_Range_Law_Debate_110841754.html
It was Texas, not Montana, and the shooter was charged with criminal mischief. Apparently, part of the problem was that buffalo don’t count as livestock, but indigenous animals. But sailboat appears to be correct that this is a crime, at least in Texas, and I imagine also California.
However, I would imagine that if the shooter can produce any evidence the zebras were threatening his property, things would be different.
The palace on the top of the hill is a California state park managed and maintained by the state. The ranch itself around the palace is still owned and run by the Hearst Corporation. WR Hearst had exotic grazing animals running free like Zebras, Barbary Sheep, etc. He had predators in cages back in the 30s. The grazing herds still run free.
IANAL, but my general understanding is that you the rancher are liable for any damage done by your livestock should they get out (breaking other people’s fences, getting hit by a car and killing the driver). You are also entitled to shoot someone else’s animal harassing your livestock, although usually that is a dog, not a zebra. They don’t say for sure, but it sounds like the zebras had already knocked down some fences in getting on to the rancher’s property.
Unless handled from an early age and tamed, zebras are quite dangerous to try to deal with and can be aggressive towards people if irritated. Besides the fact that horses will spook at strange species (or even miniature horses, if they haven’t seen them before), it sounds like the zebras were antagonizing the horses. Horses being chased or running in a blind panic can act exactly that - blind - and run straight into fences, buildings, etc., breaking legs and necks. If it were someone’s pet dog that had been chasing the horses, there would have been no news story when the dog got shot.
Hide your kids, hide your goats.
To be fair, it’s not the rancher saying that zebras are predators. It’s someone else saying that the rancher “felt” that they were predators. I wouldn’t put much stock in the predator comment.
I must say, the fact that the rancher tried to get the zebra mounted doesn’t speak well for him. How dumb do you have to be to see a zebra in California and assume it’s not somebody else’s property?