YNP - Setting a precedence?

[Bambistew]

Maybe this has been beaten to death, but...

After seeing the lady get charged by the feds for taking a picture of a bear, and the "charges" they are sticking her with, makes me wonder if they plan to enforce these same regulations for all wildlife in the parks, or if its just bears?

This is insanity. $10,000 and up to a year in prison for standing there taking a picture? She's guilty of being stupid but willfully remaining within 100 yards of animal is a crime? Holy shit... How many terrorists remain within 100 yards of wildlife on a daily basis in YNP? I would venture to guess every one of them.

The bear cub ran into the woods when mama bluff charged, mama scared it not the lady.

If you honk your horn at the buffalo (or squirrel) on the road, is that a $10,000 offense? What about your car on the road frightening an animal as you drive by? You intentionally approached, frightened and disturbed wildlife. Yep, definitely worth a year in the federal pokey.

How would this "crime" pass the 8th amendment. A year in jail for taking a picture?!?

The others that stayed in their vehicles, willfully remained and were also filming wildlife inside 100 yards. I sure hope those criminals get charged as well!

Cellphone snapshot of grizzly has Yellowstone tourist facing federal charges

An Illinois woman is facing federal charges for allegedly disturbing wildlife in Yellowstone National Park after a video surfaced of her attempting to get an up-close cellphone photo of a momma grizzly bear and her three cubs. Bob Murray, the U.S. attorney for the district of Wyoming, announced...

www.yahoo.com

Bob Murray, the U.S. attorney for the district of Wyoming, announced on Monday that charges have been filed against 25-year-old Samantha R. Dehring of Carol Stream, Illinois.

Dehring is ordered to appear before a magistrate judge in Mammoth Hot Spring, Wyoming, on Aug. 26 to answer to charges of willfully remaining, approaching and photographing wildlife within 100 yards. She is also charged with one count of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentionally disturbing wildlife.

If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, Murray said in a statement.

The incident unfolded on May 10, in the Roaring Mountain area of Yellowstone, Murray said.

"While other visitors slowly backed off and got into their vehicles, Dehring remained," Murray said.

A video shot by a tourist showed Dehring standing roughly 15 feet from a grizzly bear taking a photo of the animal with her cellphone. She backed away only after the bear briefly charged at her and then retreated. Other bears nearby appeared to be startled by the encounter and ran into the forest.

Murray said U.S. Park Rangers from Yellowstone provided the results of their investigation to U.S. Rangers in the area where Dehring lives and they served her in person with the violation notices.

 

[geetar]

You can’t legislate and fine stupid away. It seems when extreme measures like this are taken it hurts others in the future more than it hurts the original offender. I’ve been there twice and have yet to see a Griz. When I do I will take a pic from afar because common sense. I would do the same if fine didn’t exist.

 

[mtmiller]

Obviously she won't get any jail time, but will likely get a fine much less the $10k.

Yesterday morning I pulled into GNP and saw this gal before 7am. Light was crappy, but there was a place to pull off, so I decided to just watch this sow and two cubs. For the next 20 minutes, traffic just started parking in the road and getting out to shoot with their iPads/cell phones. If I was writing tickets, Feds could have put down a few yards of new pavement. Then again, my shot was taken from probably 60 yards away, but I was shooting over the hood of my pickup. The bears paralleled the road and the masses followed. I took advantage and got out of there. Didn't matter, Logan was full by the time I got there anyway.

On another note, two years ago when I was there, I was watching a black bear at the tree line. Up pulls a van and 3 or 4 people bailed out and tried to put the sneak on. The lead dildo had a sidearm with him. Bear was wise to the situation.

 

[geetar]

 

[Hammsolo]

Having worked in Grand Teton I have seen some crazy shiz. Chasing black bears out of camp grounds and getting yelled at for not letting people get photos, and watching a cow moose have a calf in the Jackson Lake Lodge employee parking lot. I had to fight people to keep them back. We also had college kids die that year jumping into super heated pools… (Very sad). The dumbest may have been when a mom put a little kid on the back of a bison for a picture. The kid lived.

People do stupid stuff. Sometimes rules are necessary even when they feel unnecessary to us.

What’s the funniest sign you could imagine in the park?!? Don’t put your kid on a bison for pictures… they’ll guys f@cked up!!!

 

[mtmiller]

.

What’s the funniest sign you could imagine in the park?!?

 

[BirdManMike]

Obviously she won't get any jail time, but will likely get a fine much less the $10k.

Yesterday morning I pulled into GNP and saw this gal before 7am. Light was crappy, but there was a place to pull off, so I decided to just watch this sow and two cubs. For the next 20 minutes, traffic just started parking in the road and getting out to shoot with their iPads/cell phones. If I was writing tickets, Feds could have put down a few yards of new pavement. Then again, my shot was taken from probably 60 yards away, but I was shooting over the hood of my pickup. The bears paralleled the road and the masses followed. I took advantage and got out of there. Didn't matter, Logan was full by the time I got there anyway.

On another note, two years ago when I was there, I was watching a black bear at the tree line. Up pulls a van and 3 or 4 people bailed out and tried to put the sneak on. The lead dildo had a sidearm with him. Bear was wise to the situation.

The hand cannon people are really bad.

“I‘m going to go see wildlife up close, as close as possible, but if I feel uncomfortable I’ll blast it”.

- A lot of people, apparently.

They are all southern freakers in my experience. Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Rhodesia, Moldova, Mississippi…those sorts of places.

 

[IdahoPotato]

Federal involvement aside, did you watch the video of this lady? She BARELY flinches when a full grown apex predator charges within 10 yards. What is happening here??? How do people not have a built in self-preservation instinct in these situations? Has the gene pool been diluted to the point of no return with the advent of federal sidewalks and ropes in Yellowstone?

Excuse the news anchor, he seems to think grizz have returned to Yosemite

 

[GlockZ]

I believe the rule is to keep at least 100 yards away from all wildlife, if less than that it's considered wildlife harassment. The fact that you can read or hear on the news the multiple incidences of wildlife versus humans, says it all. Big deal, you may get a fine or injured and have to be put back together at the local trauma center. You know what the wildlife gets? They get euthanized, because some idiot got into their space and caused that animal to react. There are signs all over to keep your distance, but it largely gets ignored, so I'm fine with people getting hefty fines. As they say, " do stupid things, win stupid prizes!"

 

[Nick87]

Has the gene pool been diluted to the point of no return

Yes. Definitely yes

 

[shrapnel]

Where is the limit for fining people and their actions?

How about the fake Covid vaccination certificates...

Two passengers fined $16K for using fake vaccination cards to fly from US to Canada

Two airline passengers have been fined nearly $16,000 each for using fake vaccination cards to fly from the United States to Canada. In a statement on Friday, the Public Health Agency of …

www.google.com

 

[longbow51]

View attachment 190799

Obviously the "Group W" Bench a la Arlo Guthrie.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I can see the need for a large fine & jail sentence. It's about deterring people from doing the stupid. Yes, some will always take it as a challenge, but others will say "it ain't worth getting the park popo on me and costing me my Boone's Farm budget for 2021."

Bears hurt & kill stupid people. Stupid people need deterrents. This is a fine for being stupid.

 

[DouglasR]

I can see the need for a large fine & jail sentence. It's about deterring people from doing the stupid. Yes, some will always take it as a challenge, but others will say "it ain't worth getting the park popo on me and costing me my Boone's Farm budget for 2021."

Bears hurt & kill stupid people. Stupid people need deterrents. This is a fine for being stupid.

Couldn’t the park ranger just give her a stern ass chewing?
must we involve the lawyers?

 

[Ben Lamb]

Couldn’t the park ranger just give her a stern ass chewing?
must we involve the lawyers?

You've met us right?

We don't respond well to anything other than an ass-whoopin. The increased traffic in those parks lead to a big uptick in this kind of behavior. You can take the easy approach and devote countless hours and personnel to chasing down each butthead and warn them, or you can help those who do stupid things provide a lesson to others.

What does a bear mauling cost the park in terms of forensic teams, rangers, medical personnel, etc? I can see $10K being a bitter pill to swallow, but it's going to be far more expensive if they take a gentler approach.

 

[DouglasR]

So she’s gonna have to take off work and go to court in different state over a cell phone vid of her taking a video of a bear?
so there’s a $1000 fine just by having to miss work and travel out there...
I’d go with the David Lesh defense.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Couldn’t the park ranger just give her a stern ass chewing?
must we involve the lawyers?

Fines and sentences come from laws enacted, then law enforcement. The lawyers get involved only when the "stupids" want exoneration, forgiveness, or other dismissal of their stupidity, thus hiring a lawyer to clog the courts in another stupid act of "defense" of bad behavior.

 

[DouglasR]

You've met us right?

We don't respond well to anything other than an ass-whoopin. The increased traffic in those parks lead to a big uptick in this kind of behavior. You can take the easy approach and devote countless hours and personnel to chasing down each butthead and warn them, or you can help those who do stupid things provide a lesson to others.

What does a bear mauling cost the park in terms of forensic teams, rangers, medical personnel, etc? I can see $10K being a bitter pill to swallow, but it's going to be far more expensive if they take a gentler approach.

Define “this kind of behavior” and “stupid things”
She lived...
This guy didn’t...
So who’s the stupid one doing the stupid things?

Guide fatally mauled by bear while helping Florida hunter in Wyoming

Guide Mark Uptain, 37, was helping a client find an elk shot the day before. The two were then attacked by two suspected grizzly bears.

www.google.com

 

[Ben Lamb]

Define “this kind of behavior” and “stupid things”
She lived...
This guy didn’t...
So who’s the stupid one doing the stupid things?

Guide fatally mauled by bear while helping Florida hunter in Wyoming

Guide Mark Uptain, 37, was helping a client find an elk shot the day before. The two were then attacked by two suspected grizzly bears.

www.google.com

"This kind of behavior" Intentionally disregarding the multiple warnings, both written & verbal, that are given to visitors of our National Parks who disregard them because they want a photo of their kid on a bison, or they want to get that close up photo of a bear.

That incident you bring up is a wildly unfortunate death that comes with part of the territory when you go deep in the backcountry. Nobody did anything wrong there, IMO, based on what I've read, and we as hunters accept that this is a possible outcome of our activities when we strap on the boots and head into the backcountry, which is not a national park, but actual wild and wooly lands where we are not on the pavement in yoga pants and spanx.

Well, not spanx. I don't know what the latest hunting fashion is yet. Have we hit $400 camo yoga pants yet?

 

[DouglasR]

I just can’t imagine wanting to impose financial hardship on another person for taking a picture of a bear.