Because of her stupidity lives are ruined. You would think she wouldn't have a big smile on her face.
Posted on 11/28/2009 4:13:30 PM PST by missycocopuffs
Reporting from Camp Hale, Colo. - As soon as Renee Legro saw the sheep, she screamed.
The herd, 1,300 strong, has been coming for 30 years to graze in this valley on the backside of the Continental Divide. But as Colorado has become an adventure sports destination, the once-empty valley has filled with hikers, campers and mountain bikers like Legro, and she was about to tragically embody the collision of the old West with the new.
Legro, 33, screamed because she knew what came with the herd -- guard dogs. Shortly after she rolled down a hill and came upon the sheep, a dog leaped at her, locked its jaws on her hip and yanked her off her bike.
A second dog pounced as she fell. The two enormous canines, powerful enough to fend off bears, tore at her until her cries drew two campers who drove them off. The emergency-room doctor lost count of how many stitches she required.
To Legro and her husband, Steve, there was one person responsible -- Sam Robinson. One of a dwindling number of sheepherders in Colorado's mountains, Robinson, 54, turned to guard dogs a decade ago, after the state banned the use of traps to prevent mountain lions, coyotes and bears from destroying herds.
"We don't have any other option," Robinson said.
The Legros see things differently. In their years of hiking, biking and skiing the magnificent open spaces near Vail, they have fled from ranchers' dogs several times. "I cannot bring my dog up to the forest and let it run wild and attack people," said Steve Legro, 37. "Neither should anyone else."
They wanted Robinson charged with a crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Ranchers always take it in the butt if anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong.....no matter whose fault it is.
Exactly. Now that I think about it I have seen dogs with the herders before. They were smallish like Aussie sheep dogs. Nothing I would be afraid of if they did get snappy. But that has never happened. I forgot all about them because they didn’t do anything to leave an impression on me. They are quiet and meek unless they perceive a threat to the sheep.
Threaten a herd with guard dogs and face the consequences of your stupidity.
Wonder if the knobby treads on her mountain bike was tearing up the trails and leading to more erosion? Lady, stay in town and eat tofu.
Because of her stupidity lives are ruined. You would think she wouldn't have a big smile on her face.
I lived in Idaho for many years and encountered sheep herds quite a bit hunting and riding horseback South of the Sawtooth Range. It was a common sight back then. Now, I can envision this stupid woman riding a mountain bike through the herd screaming. It’s no wonder the dogs attacked her. The dogs did their work well. Too bad the shepherd has to be punished for her stupidity. Just the way the world turns anymore. Sad.
He has no problems with coyotes - or anything else for the matter. Walk up the herd, no problem - running, as he explains to me, is NOT a good thing.
The dogs hair and color are to the point they are all but invisible in the sage - unitl they stand up.
Then, you just wet yourself....
Actually livestock guardian dogs are raised to work almost completely alone. They are raised with the sheep all their lives and feel like one of them. Their only job is to protect "the family" from any threat they deem important, usually by chasing it away but attacking if necessary. They are not "command controlled" in the sense that other service dogs are, since the shepherd isn't always nearby. Livestock losses drop considerably when these animals are used.
You have me there - my experiance is limited to sheep herding and the dogs I know of always work with a human.
When the BIL is in town, they put a ‘temp’ out in the field - in this case, the dogs keep on eye on the temp as well. I had thought of going over during the deer season so he could have an extened time off & I could could get a shot at -
a big deer
some DX
This is NOT meant as an attack on you or your post but we like big dogs and actually looked in to this breed.
From the article: Though not trained to attack people, the dogs, both white Great Pyrenees, were fierce protectors of Robinson's herd.
What kind of idiot rides screaming at speed into a flock guarded by this kind of dog?
Many posters here need to reread the article, but this time pay attention to the part where she says she came over a hill and into the herd.
As someone who has lived in Vail, and mountain biked Camp Hale, which is one of the races in the Vail Town mountain bike series, this is an issue of access. Personally, as citizen of a constitutional republic, I put the lady’s right to access above that of the sheep herder, who has, more likely than not, hired illegal aliens to watch the herd. My sympathy is with the woman who suffered severe injuries for the crime of riding her mountain bike, not with the sheep owner and his illegal alien herders who were no where to be seen while she was being attacked by the two Great Pyrenees.
The article says a decade ago they turned to guard dogs because the state banned the use of traps to capture lions, bears and wolves which were killing the sheep. Fourth paragraph.
...never heard of Great Pyrenees or any other sheep dogs attacking people. IMO, the suburbanite probably appeared to threaten the sheep in some way. Maybe the terminally suburban folks should consider staying in suburbia instead of moving to the Range and trying to regulate working class people with common sense off of it.
Those are definitely not the kind of dogs I have seen herding sheep in the Rockies. I am sure that if two of those were after my hide I would be scampering up a tree. But I doubt that I would set them off in the first place. Beautiful dogs BTW.
Yep, very stupid. It wouldn't surprise me if you could ride swiftly through a herd and get little or no reaction from the dogs if you kept quiet. On the other side of that coin if you stood still in the middle of the sheep and screamed you would probably be attacked. Common sense says you don't do either. Just ride slowly or walk your bike through, no problems.
I’ve walked by Great Pyrenees sheepdogs a few times. ...even petted some the neighbors’ dogs, when the neighbors weren’t around. One would have to frighten the sheep pretty badly to get those dogs to bite people, as far as I know.
First you postulate that he hired illegals which is not in the story then you state as fact that the illegals he hired were AWOL.
I have one thing to say to you. Shame they weren’t pit bulls.
I agree with you. People demand their rights constantly, but forget their responsibilities. This couple obviously haven’t a clue about their own obligation to know what behavior they ought to exhibit when out on the range.
As an avid knitter, spinner, and weaver, I wanted my own flock of sheep for years, remembering fondly the flock we had when I was growing up. My dad told me I was just in for heartbreak, since the ‘burbanites moving to the country let their dogs run free, including running sheep to death.
This woman should have done a little homework about how to behave when coming across a flock of sheep. She could have badly spooked them by screaming and riding into the flock that way. The dogs were just doing their job, in my opinion.
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