Cougar Carcass.jpg

A photo of the cougar killed in Schoolcraft County. DNR officials say one of the men involved in the killing took the photo.

SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY, MI

— Though the Bay City man who shot and later killed a cougar in the Upper Peninsula maintains he did so to defend his father from a potential attack, the lead investigator in the case tells a different story and says there is no doubt in his mind that the animal was poached.

“Our investigation and other evidence we have … tells us that at no time, at no point, was there ever, ever anyone’s life in danger. Never,” said Mike Hammill, a conservation officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Hammill added that after the cougar was dead, the father and son cooked and ate the feline’s heart.

Troy Richard said his father was unarmed and walking to a deer blind when he spotted a cougar emerge from some woods and assume a prowling-like stance. Troy Richard, who was still in the cabin, said he yelled at the cougar, but when it didn’t change its imposing stance, he grabbed a .22-250-caliber rifle and, taking aim through a cabin window, shot the feline.

In an interview with The Bay City Times on Thursday, March 7, Troy R. Richard, 42, of Bay City, and his 68-year-old father Theodore R. Richard, of Munger, said they were at their hunting camp in Schoolcraft County on Monday, Dec. 9.

The next day, he tracked the wounded cougar to a swamp area nearly 2 miles away and shot the cougar it with a .357 Magnum, killing it, he said. Troy Richard said he didn’t want to leave the cougar in the swamp, so he dragged it back to the cabin and field dressed it, then later skinned it and boiled its skull to potentially keep as a trophy.

Troy Richard said he regretted not doing the proper thing, which would have been to contact authorities after firing the first shot.

A trail camera captures a photo of a wild cougar in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in December 2013. Department of Natural Resources officials believe this same individual was illegally killed by two Bay County residents.

Hammill said he believes the Richards colluded to fabricate the story of a defensive shooting to try to avoid criminal charges. The killing was the result of Richard being unable to pass up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Hammill said.

“We asked him why he did it,” Hammill said, “and he said, quote, ‘Because it’s something I’d never, ever have again. I’d never have the opportunity to have something like that.’ We have him on audio saying that.”

Richard also misled investigators when it came to the whereabouts of the cougar’s remains, in hopes of keeping the hide and skull, Hammill said.

“It was told to me by Troy that they chopped the cougar up at the camp with an ax and took the pieces of the cougar and spread them throughout side roads, back roads and snowmobile trails around the Shingleton area. It was a total lie, obviously. We had multiple officers looking for those parts, wasting their time and wasting taxpayers’ money looking for something that wasn’t there.”

Investigators learned Richard gutted or field-dressed the cougar at the camp site, then took the rest of the carcass to his Bay City home, Hammill said. Theodore and Troy Richard also cooked and ate the cougar’s heart at the camp, Hammill said.

“He said he panicked,” Hammill said. “I’m sure in his mind, he was hoping our investigation would stop with that and we would not look further. I know that’s something he really wanted to keep, obviously.”

On learning of the investigation, Richard boxed up the hide and skull and hid it at what he thought was a secure location across town, Hammill said. Investigators eventually located and confiscated the cougar’s skull and hide and also found the animal’s entrails at the Richards’ site and confiscated them, Hammill said.

Hammill also said that the cougar was killed only a quarter-mile from the Richards’ cabin.

As further indication of the Richards’ duplicity, DNR officials said on Troy Richard’s trek back to Bay City from the Upper Peninsula, he struck a deer with his vehicle.

“He picked up the deer, put it in a trailer with other deer they had killed and transported it to the Michigan State Police post in St. Ignace where he obtained a permit for the roadkill deer all while having the cougar in the truck’s bed under a tonneau cover so that it could be hidden from view,” the DNR stated in a press release. “DNR investigating officers noted that Richard had ample opportunity to report the cougar killing at this point, but failed to do so.”

The Richards, together with Troy Richard's 43-year-old taxidermist brother Todd A. Richard, of Burt, were arraigned on criminal charges on Wednesday, March 5. Troy Richard and Theodore Richard accepted plea deals and were sentenced.

Troy Richard pleaded guilty to single misdemeanor counts of taking or possessing an endangered species and conspiracy to commit that crime and Schoolcraft County District Judge Mark E. Luoma sentenced him to 30 days in jail and ordered him to pay $5,225 in fines, costs and restitution and to perform 120 hours of community service. Upon release, he is to serve two years of probation. He also had to forfeit the .357 Magnum he used to kill the cougar and cannot hunt through 2016.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss single felony counts of torturing or killing animals and lying to a peace officer.

Theodore Richard pleaded guilty to one count of taking or possessing an endangered species and Luoma ordered him to pay $1,725 in fines and costs and perform 96 hours of community service. The judge revoked his hunting privileges through 2015 and he is to serve two years of probation.

Luoma arraigned Todd Richard on a count of conspiracy to take or possess an endangered species. He attempted to plead guilty, but the judge did not accept his plea, his brother and father said.

The DNR’s Wildlife Division previously confirmed that a trail camera in adjacent Luce County snapped a photo of a cougar on Dec. 8, the day before the initial shooting. Investigators believe the animal in the photo is the same one killed.

Cougars, also known as pumas, catamounts or mountain lions, are classified as an endangered species in Michigan. The last Michigan cougar killed by a person was in 1906 near Newberry.

“There is no doubt in my mind the cougar was 100 percent poached for no reason,” Hammill said. “This was not a matter of self-defense at all.”

Troy Richard declined to comment on Hammill’s statements, saying there was no need to do so.