Ms. Beasley said that not all of the unauthorized removal of fossils can be blamed on unscrupulous commercial collectors. There's also probably professionals out there who just don't think they have to get permission. There are those who have the attitude that they spent a lot of time and money becoming paleontologists, and therefore they have a right. Other factors favor poachers besides the West's open spaces and thin law enforcement presence. Sometimes, boundaries are nebulous.
Ranchers have long-standing government grazing permits.
Fence lines don't follow property lines. Ranchers fence in usable range but not the kind of barren terrain where fossils often are found, so unfenced private property lies next to unfenced federal property. In one case, U.S. Assistant Attorney Kubichek recalled, a Swiss firm got permission from a landowner to excavate on his property. Needless to say we did not prosecute that case. There was no intent . . .