When we left Brenda and Glen Elliott, the Parker County residents were at a loss what to do about five dead peafowl.
The Elliotts had two peacocks and three peahens that had a habit of crossing the fence that separates their property from the one next to it on North Bend Road.
On Sunday, March 9, as the Elliotts were celebrating a grandson’s birthday, they heard gunshots. Glenn Elliott said he hurried to the fence and saw Randy Ellis, caretaker for his family’s many Parker County properties, shoot the last of the five birds with a rifle.
In the ensuing days the Elliotts were told by authorities from the Parker County Sheriff’s Office to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency in Washington, D.C., that no law protected peafowl.
"It was the law of the land," Glen Elliott said resignedly.
Well, not necessarily, said a trio of county servants.
Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said that a couple of deputies overlooked something when they initially researched the law on the Elliotts’ behalf. Then, he took a personal interest.
"It looks like criminal mischief," Fowler said. "I wouldn’t view it any different than if some farm animal belonging to a neighbor crossed your property and you just arbitrarily shot it. I don’t see any good reason for that, so I’m having it looked into."
That was a few weeks ago, after the original story appeared in the March 26 Weatherford Telegram.
Parker County Attorney John Forrest also questioned the action, and Game Warden Randall Hayes started digging into the books. He found what he was looking for in the Texas Agricultural Code.
After that, Hayes said he had a one-hour talk with the man accused of shooting the birds.
He said that Ellis was very remorseful after the incident; but he thought that it was the way ranchers were supposed to take care of stray animals.
That, Forrest said, is why it’s important to get the rest of the story to the public.
"The agriculture code covers peafowl like other estrays," Hayes said. "A property owner should contact the Sheriff’s office or the owners to pick them up."
Indeed, Texas Agriculture Code chapter 142 (Estrays) identifies exotic fowl as any avian species that is not indigenous to the state.
"If an estray, without being herded with other livestock, roams about the property of a person without that person’s permission or roams about public property, the owner of the private property or the custodian of the public property, as applicable, shall, as soon as reasonably possible, report the presence of the estray to the sheriff of the county in which the estray is discovered."
The sheriff or sheriff’s designee – in Parker County, that’s animal control officers – then must notify the owner (if known) of the stray animals and instruct the owner to go get them. Or, the animal control officer is to impound the animals.
That means Ellis was not within his rights to shoot the Elliotts’ peafowl, Hayes said.
In fact, the code doesn’t state any condition under which a property owner could legally shoot a stray animal. That’s kind of a gray area, Forrest said. Logic would dictate that the property owner would subdue an animal that is attacking a person. But the Agriculture Code specifies that a stray’s owner is responsible for any damage the animal causes to someone’s property, which would include the property owner’s livestock and pets.
"There are proper procedures when a stray animal is on your property," Forrest said. "The first step is to call animal control."
Forrest said that he filed the incident as criminal mischief, and offered a plea bargain to Ellis that includes a fine, restitution to the Elliotts and deferred adjudication of any other penalties that might have been assessed.
In similar cases, the crime could be classified as severely as a felony, depending on the value of the animals involved, Forrest said.
"We want to get Mr. Elliott back to where he was before this happened," Forrest said of the restitution, which amounted to $800. "We’ll go to pre-trial in Justice of the Peace 1 Wayne Hayes’ court. Randy Ellis will appear there and either plead no contest, or we’ll proceed from there."
Ellis met with Forrest, Hayes and Elliott in Forrest’s office last week and agreed to the terms. Elliott said he was satisfied with the outcome, and shook hands with Ellis at the meeting’s conclusion.
"Randy is a really nice person," Elliott said. "I would have hated it if this incident ruined a friendship."
Hayes said that when he talked with Ellis, it became obvious the man understood that what he did was wrong.
"There was no criminal intent," Hayes said. "Randy Ellis is not that kind of guy. He realizes he made a mistake, and offered an apology."
Forrest and Hayes said that the most important element of this incident is the opportunity to make the public aware that there are estray laws in Texas.