Man sick of deer eating landscaping kills them with pellet gun

TIBURON, Calif. (KTVU) - Klaus and Linda Meinberg have been living on Tiburon's Mar East Street for a quarter century. The views of the Bay are spectacular and so is the wildlife.

"All you have to do is wave your hand to a deer and it runs off. Or say boo! And it runs off," said Linda.

Just three doors down their neighbor, 54-year-old Mark Dickenson was arrested early Saturday morning for fatally shooting a doe and one of its' fawns.

The two deer were killed with a high-powered pellet rifle complete with scope, laser and flashlight attachment.

Dickenson told Tiburon police he was "sick of the deer eating his expensive landscaping," an area that he attempted to fence off.

Lisa Bloch from the Marin Humane Society said she was shocked.

"No one was in danger. There wasn't a public safety issue. The deer are defenseless. It was simply a mother deer and family doing what's natural, eating vegetation. And to be killed for that is pretty unconscionable in our minds." Both deer were found close to Dickenson's bay front property with multiple wounds.

By the time Marin Humane arrived, both deer were dead.

"It was a slow prolonged death. There was certainly nothing humane about it," said Lisa Block from Marin Humane. Dickenson is a pilot and has been charged with felony animal cruelty. His attorney Charles Dresow said, "My client did not intend to harm the animals. The Public outrage related to these allegations is driven by the inflammatory claims of the Tiburon Police Department, which haven't been proven in court."

Neighbor Klaus Meinberg still can't believe it.

"I am heartbroken! I can't understand how an educated man, the gentleman up the road would do something like that."

While neighbors are outraged over the loss of innocent wildlife, others are more concerned that a fellow neighbor was toting a loaded pellet rifle around their homes.

"The fact that somebody did that in an area where so many kids and family are thickly settled. I can't imagine what's going through his brain," said neighbor John Defalco.

The case is now in the hands of the Marin district attorney. The two deer are awaiting a necropsy just in case the District Attorney wants to push forward with the case.