Cow killers arrested

Cow killers arrested

Cow killers arrested

Two Paauilo men were arrested by police Sunday afternoon after a calf was shot and skinned on an organic farm near Honokaa.

Jason James Williams, 25, and Lonnie James Knutson, 22, were taken into custody on Pu‘u‘ala Farm & Ranch on suspicion of livestock theft and carrying an unloaded firearm, both Class C felonies carrying a possible five-year prison sentence.

Both men were being held at the Hilo police cellblock and neither had been charged as of press time Monday. By law, police have until 1:20 p.m. todayTuesday to charge the men or release them from custody.

The calf had been “cut up,” according to Hamakua Police Capt. Andrew Burian.

Burian said the investigation had been turned over to Criminal Investigation Section detectives.

Zack Gibson, Pu‘u‘ala Farm manager, said the two arrested men are “woofers” — unpaid volunteers from Washington state who are working on the farm to gain a practical education in organic farming.

Gibson said the calf belonged to rancher Peter De Luz, who is leasing ranch land from Gibson’s father, and that De Luz notified police. He added that he and De Luz have an ongoing dispute over water, and he believes Williams and Knutson became unwitting pawns in that dispute. Gibson also alluded to “extenuating circumstances” surrounding the calf’s shooting.

“There was an injured calf in a gulch and they shot it, and they were skinning it to try to recover the meat,” Gibson said Monday afternoon. He described the gulch as “really gnarly, almost vertical.” He said he is the owner of the rifle the men used to “put the calf out of its misery.”