This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
State and local officials have launched a criminal investigation into the fatal stomping of a pheasant Friday at a high school football game in Utah County.
The pheasant wandered onto the football field during the game between American Fork and Viewmont high schools, delaying the second half of the game.
It was chased onto the Viewmont sideline, where an adult stomped on it and killed it.
American Fork police and state regulators on Monday began investigating the case as possible poaching, said Lt. Scott White, of the state Division of Wildlife Resources. Pheasant hunting season begins Nov. 6, he said.
Even if pheasant season had been under way, the stomping may have violated laws that regulate how game can be hunted, White said.
"There are certain ways you can . . . kill a pheasant," he said, and stomping on them is not one of them.
Investigators have not yet determined who stomped on the bird, White said.
Animal rights advocates called for legal action after reports of the stomping appeared in media coverage of the game.
"That was deliberate, to . . . show [the students] how to go for the kill," said Anne Davis, coordinator of http://www.henryslaw.com, a Web site that tracks animal cruelty cases in Utah.
Humane Society of Utah Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt called the stomping "in poor taste."
"That bird didn't want to be on the football field any more than the players wanted it to be there," Baierschmidt said in a statement.
"Many of the students who witnessed the stomping may not remember what they learned in school that week, and they may not even remember much about the game itself," he said. "But the memory of this cruel act will undoubtedly remain."