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Poacher sentenced to watch Bambi

From the Washington Post

" Authorities have no0 idea how many deer the Berry family and their associates illegally killed in the fields and forests of Southern Missouri over the last decade, but the details of their poaching operation would make any animal lover's stomach turn.

Over nearly 9 years David Berry and his two sons, David Berry Jr. and Kyle Berry, killed the deer, mostly at night, then cut off their heads and antlers-leaving the bodies to rot where they fell.

There was some financial motivation in the carnage, but authorities said collecting the deer heads was mostly about ego. "Taking just the heads is their version of obtaining a 'trophy' and leaving the carcass behind is merely an afterthought," said Randy Doman, the division chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation, told the Springfield News-Leader. "While there are some cases where poachers go after the antlers for profit, with this bunch it was more about the thrill of the kill itself."

And so when the Berrys and more than a dozen other poachers were ultimately sentenced, Lawrence county judge Robert George apparently hoped a little Disney magic would show one of them the error of his ways.

According to court records obtained by the News-Leader, David Barry Jr. "is to view the Walt Disney movie 'Bambi' with the first viewing being on or before Dec 23, 2018, and at least one such viewing each month thereafter during Defendant's incarceration iin the Lawrence County Jail."

Berry Jr. will be in jail for a year. .......... In total, the other co-conspirators faced a litany of charges and paid nearly $200,000 in bonds and fines and served 33 days in jail, according to the department of conservation. All the Berrys had their hunting, fishing and trapping privileges revoked for life.

Berry Jr.'s family members have also been accused of catching fish by hand, an often illegal process that can be dangerous to both fishermen and fish populations."

At least they didn't call them hunters. TMBB

Glad to see the Dept of Conservation revoke their hunting licenses for life. We don’t have enough big deer in SW MO the way it is let alone with these yahoos poaching them. They just live about 10 miles down the road from me.

-Mitch

Good to catch a poacher and revoke their hunting licenses but they weren’t using hunting licenses in the first place to poach deer at night. Pretty stupid to have him watch a dumb Disney movie as part of his punishment. Lol

Really dumb. A judge has him watch a fictional movie which is so full of conservation errors its not funny. Bambi's mother was killed in the summer (Bambi still had spots) Don't know of too many places with gun deer seasons in the summer, so it was poaching. However most news outlets improperly label the fictional character a hunter., not a poacher, same a the person convicted of all the conservation law violations.

Why not sentence him to community service, like planting trees cleaning up garbage at the local wildlife area once he is out of jail??

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