Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a Webbers Falls farmer accused of shooting two dogs coyote hunters allowed to run across his property.

Few facts of the case appear to be in dispute. But James Yang, a Laotian immigrant who owns an egg-production and cattle operation in southeastern Muskogee County, claims he had a legal right to shoot the hunting dogs that threatened his livestock and his children.

Yang’s lawyers contend their client had experienced problems with dogs chasing and killing his cattle prior to the night of March 25, 2006, when authorities allege the two dogs were shot and killed.

“Mr. Yang had talked to two neighbors about this prior problem,” Tulsa lawyer James Wirth said about his client’s previous losses of livestock to dogs. “Both of them told him if dogs are on your property and chasing your cattle, you have a right to shoot them.”

Yang also faces two misdemeanor charges. Eric Johnson, who is prosecuting the case, alleged in his opening statement that Yang was uncooperative with authorities who were investigating the hunters’ complaints. The state also alleges Yang destroyed evidence by incinerating the dog that died on his property.

Yang’s lawyers, however, said Yang — except for a language barrier — cooperated with investigators from the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office throughout their probe. They also contend Yang incinerated the dog that died on his property as a precautionary measure to limit health concerns regarding his agricultural operations and prior to his knowledge of law enforcers’ investigation.

Wirth said Yang, who owns an estimated 50,000 chickens and 150 to 200 head of cattle, regularly disposes of dead animals by incineration.

“Mr. Yang is required to burn animals that die on his property,” Wirth said during his opening statement. “The incinerator was already in operation, and Mr. Yang had no concept at that time that anybody was looking for him or that he had done anything wrong.”

Johnson, during his opening statement, described the demise of the two hunting dogs as the death of a long-standing hunting tradition. Johnson said the pack of up to a dozen dogs was in pursuit of a coyote, not cattle.

“They (the hunters) see a four-wheeler by a pond prior to hearing shots,” Johnson said. “The lights on the four-wheeler go off, and a spotlight comes on — then they see the flash from the muzzle of a gun.”

Charles Kania, who also represents Yang, said his client acted in a manner intended to abate both a public and private nuisance.

“The way we see it is, the dogs were chasing his (Yang’s) cattle, endangering his livestock and his children,” Kania said. “Mr. Yang has lost three or four cows, and he caught them (the dogs) in the act.”

Testimony will continue today in the third-floor courtroom of Muskogee County Associate District Court Judge Norman D. Thygesen.