Cheney 'violated game laws'

2006-02-14 08:34

Washington - US vice-president Dick Cheney was in violation of the game laws of Texas when he accidentally shot and wounded his hunting companion because his licence lacked a required hunting stamp.

Cheney wounded fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest on Saturday, apparently because he didn't see Whittington approach as he fired toward a covey of quail on a southern Texas ranch.

Hunting safety experts interviewed on Monday agreed it would have been a good idea for Whittington to have announced himself as he approached Cheney, which he apparently did not do, according to a witness. Under the rules of hunting, however, they stressed that the shooter is responsible for knowing his surroundings and avoiding hitting others.

"We always stress to anybody that before you make any kind of a shot, it's incumbent upon the shooter to assess the situation and make sure it's a safe shot," said Mark Birkhauser, president-elect of the International Hunter Education Association and hunter education co-ordinator in New Mexico.

In Texas, Whittington, 78, remained in Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial. He remained listed in stable condition.

Blanchard said, however, that in cases like Whittington's, where the number of bird shot pellets lodged in the skin was "more than I can count on the fingers of my hand, but less than 100," it was better to leave them there than to try to extract them. Millionaire Whittington, he said, most probably will live out his life with the pellets in his body.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Cheney and Whittington would be given warning citations for violating game law by not having an upland game bird stamp, a requirement that went into effect in September. Cheney had the required $125 non-resident hunting licence, the vice-president's office said on Monday night in a statement, and he has sent a $7 check to the state to cover the cost of the stamp.

Cheney, an experienced hunter, has not commented publicly about the accident. He avoided reporters on Monday by leaving a White House meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the press was escorted in.

President George W. Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove, told Bush about Cheney's involvement in the accident shortly before 20:00 on Saturday, about an hour after it occurred, but the White House did not disclose the accident until Sunday afternoon, and then only in response to press questions. Press secretary Scott McClellan said he did not know until Sunday morning that the vice-president had shot someone.

Gilbert San Miguel, chief deputy sheriff for Kenedy County, said the report had not been completed Monday and that it was being handled as a hunting accident.

Armstrong said the accident occurred as Whittington was retrieving a bird he had shot in the tall grasses on her property.

- AP