Page 29 - Wyoming's Grizzly Harvest - The Story the State Wants to Bury with the Bears

Wyoming’s Grizzly Harvest Game and Fish Department “bear management specialist” killing a grizzly roadside serves to validate the vision of a post-delisting world given by GOAL Tribal Coalition in Welcome to Yellowstone 2017. Under current Wyoming statutes, the killing of a grizzly bear is “a high misdemeanor” punishable by up to twelve months imprisonment and a fine not exceeding $10,000. If the second statute for shooting along the highway was strictly followed, Ellsbury could have faced another six months and $1,000. On September 22, 2014 he entered guilty pleas, and on October 9 was sentenced in Park County Circuit Court. Predictably, Ellsbury escaped jail time and his fine was commensurate to what a non-resident will pay the state to kill a grizzly with an outfitter’s services. Park County Prosecuting Attorney, Bryan A. Skoric, argued before Judge Bruce Waters for $10,000 to be paid in restitution, a penalty established by precedent in two cases in 2008. Skoric reminded the Court that the state assigned a value of $25,000 to a grizzly bear when Ellsbury’s attorney, Nick Beduhn, requested his client pay only a $7,500 penalty. Judge Waters rejected Beduhn’s argument, but appeared largely sympathetic to Ellsbury, a position that may have 29