HELENA (AP) – A Montana ranch hand has been fined after posting a video of a grizzly bear being chased by a truck on social media.
The Helena Independent Record reports that Lawrence Kennedy of Browning was fined $400 with a $25 processing fee after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.
Kennedy initially pleaded not guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act but entered the new plea agreement July 5. He is charged with unlawfully harassing a threatened species.
Federal officials investigated Kennedy after he posted a video to Facebook in March showing him driving a pickup truck as a bear ran across a Browning-area ranch.
Kennedy told the Independent Record in March that he was chasing the bear to keep it away from a herd of cows that were calving.
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