Florida man sentenced for shooting bear in wildlife refuge

A resident of St. Petersburg, Fla. has been sentenced in federal court for violating the Lacey Act by killing a black bear in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, an area closed to all hunting and trapping.

US Magistrate Judge Matthew M. Scoble handed down the sentence for James L. Connolly, 63, in Anchorage on Monday, June 15, saying that Connolly’s actions were particularly “abhorrent” under the circumstances.

The Lacey Act of 1900 is a federal conservation law which prohibits trade in wildlife, fish and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported or sold.

Connolly had previously pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Lacey Act. He was fined $8,000, ordered to forfeit the bear hide and to serve a two-year probation, during which he is prohibited from hunting anywhere in the United States.

The judge said he found it particularly repugnant that Connolly had traveled to Alaska from Florida with the intent to hunt and kill a wild animal without being aware of where he could legally hunt.

According to U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder, court documents showed that Connolly shot and killed the bear on May 17, 2018, in the Skilak Wildlife Recreation Area. Connolly then transported the bear carcass to a tannery in California, which then shipped the carcass to Connolly in Florida.

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An investigation revealed that eyewitnesses saw the remains of a black bear that had been killed on Skilak Lake Loop Road, and others had seen and spoken with Connolly, who acknowledged that he had shot and killed a black bear in the area. DNA samples of the blood from the kill site matched those with DNA samples taken from the bear carcass in Connolly’s possession in Florida.

The investigation was conducted by officials with Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the Florida Wildlife Commission and federal wildlife officers in Alaska, Florida and North Carolina.

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