Accomplice Blamed at Couple’s Big Game Trial

A lawyer for two Monterey County ranchers charged Monday that an accomplice persuaded them to let their ranch be used as a hunting ground for tigers and other big cats, then “stabbed them in the back” by testifying against them.

Defense lawyer I. Singh Aulakh, arguing that Floyd Lester Patterson and his wife, Dawn, are innocent, told the jury that the couple’s taxidermist neighbor was “the heavy” and had contacts with big game brokers who could deliver the animals that were killed by hunters.

Jurors were expected to begin deliberating today after a two-week trial before Municipal Court Judge Alan Hedegard in this small town in Monterey County.

Lester Patterson, 35, faces a maximum fine of $40,000 and eight years imprisonment if convicted on 35 misdemeanor counts alleging that he ran an illegal big game hunting ranch for the pleasure of wealthy gunmen. Dawn Patterson, 31, is charged in seven counts and could be sentenced to 1 1/2 years in jail.

Taxidermist Kenneth Oravsky, the main witness against them, pleaded guilty to four counts. In exchange for his testimony, prosecutors agreed that he could keep his taxidermist’s license and face no more than 180 days in jail.

“They are left holding the bag,” Aulakh said of his clients. Referring to the animals that were killed, he said: “Oravsky skinned them. Oravsky mounted them. Oravsky kept them . . . in his trailer.”

Eight big cats, including Bengal tigers, a black jaguar, a spotted leopard and a mountain lion, were killed on the Pattersons’ ranch between May and July, 1990. The Pattersons are accused of purchasing the animals for about $18,000 from an exotic-animal dealer named T. R. Comstock in Arizona and charging clients $3,000 and up for the hunts.

“They were hunted. They were killed. They were part of a business operation,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Russell Scott said, the skull of a big cat sitting on the counsel table a few feet from the jurors.

Hides of a tiger and other cats were in plastic evidence bags at Scott’s seat as he argued his case. Several photos of the hunts also were in the jurors’ view, including one of an older, overweight man wearing a cowboy hat, clenching a cigar in his mouth and posing over a dead leopard.

Some of the animals that were shot were tamed and aging. One would not venture outside its cage and had to be shot while inside. If the hunted were old, the hunters were not in the best of shape either, testimony indicated.

One hunter fainted and began hyperventilating when he was led to the tiger he was to shoot, Oravsky said. He was brought back to a ranch house where he recuperated, and returned to the cage to shoot his quarry.

Scott said the animals were not all aging and toothless. One “mangy mountain lion” ran as soon as the cage door was opened and “was screaming for freedom.” Three hunters had to shoot it so that it would not escape the Pattersons’ ranch.

Authorities have not determined the animals’ origin. They may have been shipped to the United States from Mexico, lawyers said.

The Pattersons were arrested in April on charges that they led hunts of tigers and other big cats for wealthy clients at their ranch. A separate federal investigation continues of the Pattersons and their suppliers.

Entries in their ranch ledger showed that clients paid $3,000 in deposits, with the maximum for a weekend of hunting ranging up to $10,000. The retreats included meals and lodging at the Pattersons’ 4,000-acre spread in the hilly country of southeastern Monterey County.

For 10 years, the Pattersons ran legal hunts of exotic sheep, goats and boar under the name “California Ram Hunt.” The name of the business is engraved onto the oversized brass belt-buckle that Patterson wore to court. For a sheep or boar hunt, the Pattersons charge about $900.

The big cats that were killed are considered endangered species under federal law, but there is no state law against killing the federally protected animals. Therefore, the Pattersons are not charged with a crime in connection with the actual killings. Instead, they are charged with transporting, confining and releasing the animals.

BACKGROUND

Although California has its own endangered species act, the law does not prohibit the killing of animals not native to the state, such as Bengal tigers, leopards and jaguars. State law does prohibit the possession of body parts, including hides, of animals protected under the 1973 federal endangered species act. Under federal law, only people or organizations with special permits are allowed to keep animals of endangered species.