ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602130083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DENVER
SOURCE: GWEN FLORIO PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
DID THE SHOW PORTRAY natural animal behavior - or was it fancy editing?
The host of the public television series ``Wild America'' is facing allegations that he staged some of the exciting chase-and-kill scenes in his popular show.
Former employees of Marty Stouffer of Aspen, Colo., told a Denver newspaper that he used caged animals for some such scenes purporting to take place in the wild, then edited out the cages. And spokeswomen for Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, where Stouffer has filmed some of his programs, said they have heard complaints from rangers for a decade that his methods are unethical.
Stouffer on Friday denied the allegations. PBS says it is looking into them.
The accusations highlight a debate within the wildlife filming community - namely, what constitutes ethical behavior in filming wild animals.
``We were very wary of him,'' said Amy Vanderbilt, spokeswoman for Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, who worked at Yellowstone in the late 1980s when Stouffer did some filming there. ``The rangers did receive word that he was baiting the cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake but ... were unable to catch him red-handed and press charges.''
Without charges, she said, Yellowstone had no grounds to yank his filming permit.
Stouffer said Friday that the allegations were fallout from a recent civil trial.
Stouffer was accused of building a six-mile trail across an environmental group's property and onto public land, where it ended in an upscale hunting camp.
In 1993, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Grand Junction to building the hunting camp, paid a $3,000 fine, and paid to restore the trail. Two weeks ago, a civil jury in Aspen ordered him to pay $362,000 in repairs and damages.
Stouffer said the most recent allegations were from people who supported the position of the environmental group, the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.
``I think they're sending me a message,'' he said. ``I think they're saying, `If you don't give us the money, we're going to drag your name through the mud.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB