Private property: Off-road riders wreaking havoc on ranches

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By Kate Larsen, Eyewitness News

Summary

Some Kern County families are fed up with off-road joy riders tearing down their fences, chasing cattle and causing erosion on the ranches where they live and work. Off-road vehicle riders are wreaking havoc on their land, livestock and livelihoods, they say.

Story Created: May 7, 2009 at 6:28 PM PDT

Story Updated: May 7, 2009 at 6:30 PM PDT

Private property: Off-road riders wreaking havoc on ranches
Some Kern County families are fed up with off-road joy riders tearing down their fences, chasing cattle and causing erosion on the ranches where they live and work.

Off-road vehicle riders are wreaking havoc on their land, livestock and livelihoods, they say.

Jeremy and Brandie Dunn, owners of a 160-acre ranch in Rosamond, have seen people chasing and terrorizing their cattle on dirt bikes, they say.

"It would have a death cry, a tongue hanging out of its mouth, foam dripping — it was awful," they say in describing how their cattle would react to the riders. "(The calf) would sit their and call its mom, and all the moms would come after him to protect him. It was sort of a chase game."

Eyewitness News observed about a dozen dirt bike riders on private property during a mid-April trip to the Rosamond and Tehachapi Mountains. At least one group of riders admitted to trespassing on the private property.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood says the ranches are hard to protect against illegal riders because they are remote and the trespassing infractions take a backseat at times to more urgent, violent crimes.

Bakersfield attorney Daniel Rodriguez suggests that property owners sue trespassers in small claims court as a way to protect their properties.