Jail for Bison Harassment
Written by Andrew-Rossi on August 24, 2018
An Oregon man whose harassment of a bison in Yellowstone National Park last month went viral on the internet was sentenced to 130 days in jail Wednesday.
55-year-old Raymond Reinke of Pendleton, Oregon plead guilty to the harassment and other misdemeanor counts during a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman in Mammoth Hot Springs.
Carman sentenced Reinke to 60 days in jail for harassing wildlife, 60 days for interfering with law enforcement and 10 days for disorderly conduct. Reinke was given credit for 21 days served after his arrest in Glacier National Park on Aug. 2.
Besides the jail time, the judge placed him on unsupervised probation for five years; banned him during that time from Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier national parks; ordered him to not use or possess alcohol; ordered him to successfully complete an alcohol treatment program and prove it to the court; and consent to being searched if law enforcement suspects alcohol use.
A federal prosecutor and Carman described Reinke’s behavior as the most “egregious” case of animal harassment they’d seen in Yellowstone.
