For nature photographers, beware of the local laws when photographing. One photographer found out the hard way in Montana and got sentenced for 10 days in jail and $1,035 in fines. The details are on the PDN Web site.
A Montana wildlife photographer has been sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $1,035 for illegally feeding bighorn sheep, according to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks department. The agency said 35-year-old Ryan Molde of Big Sky, Montana fed the sheep “for the purpose of drawing the animals in to photograph them with Lone Peak in the background.”
Montana state law prohibits the feeding of wildlife “or knowingly providing supplemental feed attractants to game animals.”
He pleaded guilty on Feb.14…An anonymous call to TIP-MONT led to the investigation of Molde for illegally feeding the sheep just off the Big Sky Road according to a news release from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. He was reportedly selling the photographs locally in Big Sky…FWP received a similar report about Molde in 2010 and issued a written warning for the feeding of game animals which is prohibited under Montana law… Even after receiving a written warning Mister Molde was purposefully feeding bighorn sheep for commercial gain and with blatant disregard for the health and safety of the very wildlife from which he was profiting FWP Warden Jen Williams said in the release… His actions resulted in an artificial concentration of wildlife directly adjacent to a very busy highway increasing the danger to the animals and the public added Williams.