(Image Source: MercuryNews)


BY RICHARD LAYCOCK

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

Man Vs. Nature. After a standoff with a bobcat, one Santa Clara man is facing charges. Here’s KTVU.

“A strange story. A Santa Clara county man has been charged with killing a bobcat and then eating it. 38-Year-old Henry Arnibal was arrested November 7th. Investigators say he shot a bob cat, skinned it and ate it after it attacked five of his roosters.”

Well that certainly solved the problem. In an interview with KNTV, the Deputy D.A explains what brought the sheriff’s deputies to the scene, and how their day seemed to get stranger and stranger.


“The case starts out because sheriffs deputies go out to an area up in the foothills and they are looking for a marijuana grow. When they arrive they see about 50 to 60 roosters in individual cages.
At one point they discover a small quantity of methamphetamine and they also discover some cock fighting
They then also discover the carcass of a bobcat hanging on the fence.”

Now Arnibal is not only facing charges for possession of a controlled substance and owning cockfighting equipment, KTLA says he is also in trouble for killing a bobcat out of hunting season.

“Arnibal now faces charges for killing it without a license. It is not clear whether or not he cooked the animal before eating it.”

The mysteries continue. So is dining on bobcat a crime? The Huffington Post spoke with the D.A. who says,  eating it was not the issue.

“In order to kill a bobcat under these circumstances you would have to get what's called a Depredation Permit. Let's say something is killing your roosters or killing your chickens that you are raising legitimately. You could then apply for a license to kill the animal to prevent them from doing that. And that didn't occur here.”

Despite the wild arrest, the deputies failed to find the marijuana farm.