Subjects / Subject 0004
Dr. Merrill Tavenner
Evidentiary basis
A three-minute comment at a 2016 state board hearing, objecting to a proposed increase in brand inspection fees on the grounds that the fee did not pay for anything the ranchers could identify. The Directorate of Sightings confirmed him within the week. He has said nothing political before or since.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL — Assembled from conduct. No statement on file.
In the subject’s own words
In 2022 the subject wrote to this organization, unprompted, having learned of his file. The letter is reproduced in the annual report. It does not address his politics. It corrects the organization's use of the term "conservation status," which he notes is a designation applied to populations by the IUCN and not to individuals, and encloses a reference.
Field record
- Discipline
- Veterinary Medicine. Large animal, principally cattle. Herd health, brand inspection, and the economics of both.
- Habitat
- A teaching hospital and, for four months of the year, a truck between Fort Collins and the eastern plains.
- Range
- Larimer, Weld, Logan and Yuma counties. One appearance in Denver, 2021.
- Status
- Tenured. Full professor. Section chief, large animal.
- Pattern of life
- Rounds at 5:40. Clinic. On call every third weekend, which he has never traded away.
- Identifying marks
- Coveralls. A hat.
- Call
- "That fee does not pay for anything."
- Diet
- Not established.
- Known associates
- Two hundred veterinary students, all cleared.
- Capabilities
- One three-minute comment at a state board hearing, transcribed. One letter to this organization.
- Intent
- Assessed as "to get back to the clinic."
- Signature
- Laissez-faire, moderate confidence. Conservative, not established.
- Reproductive success
- Three children. One is a veterinarian. The Office of Population Modeling has been asked to stop describing this as reproductive success and has not stopped.
Subject 0004 is a large-animal veterinarian, and the only member of the monitored population who has ever written to this organization. The letter arrived in March 2022, on clinic letterhead, and is four paragraphs long. It does not object to being monitored. It does not ask to be removed from the list. It corrects, politely and with a citation, the organization’s use of the phrase "conservation status," which the subject notes is applied by the IUCN to populations and not to individuals, and which he observes we have been using wrongly on every page of the annual report since 2017.
The letter was circulated to all directorates. The Office of Public Affairs proposed a correction. The Office of Population Modeling opposed it on the grounds that the usage, though incorrect, was load-bearing. The correction was not made. The letter is reproduced in full in the annual report, in an appendix, without comment.
Field Operations has visited the subject’s range on eleven occasions and has, on each, been offered coffee by someone. No contact has been made. On the eleventh occasion an analyst helped move a gate, which was reviewed and found to be within policy.
Surveillance log
| 2016-09-21 11:04 | State board hearing, Denver. Subject spoke for three minutes regarding brand inspection fees. Transcript obtained. Confirmed 2016-09-26. |
| 2019-04-02 | Confirmation flagged for review against the published criteria. Review remains open. |
| 2022-03-14 | Letter received from subject. Corrects organizational usage of "conservation status." Reference enclosed. Circulated to all directorates. |
| 2022-04-01 | Correction proposed by Public Affairs. Opposed by Population Modeling. Not made. |
| 2025-10-19 06:30 | Field Operations, Logan County. Analyst assisted with a gate. Reviewed. Within policy. |