Criminal charges filed after video shows man tackling pelican in the Florida Keys
File Pelican Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
DAVIDSONVILLE, Md. (AP) - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is working to determine what charges might be appropriate to bring against a Maryland man who was videotaped tackling a federally protected pelican.
The Baltimore Sun reports Hunter Hardesty, of Davidsonville, posted the video of the apparent attack online on Thursday. Commission officer and spokesman Bobby Dube says Hardesty enticed the pelican and then jumped on it. He says authorities are considering possible animal cruelty charges.
The video shows Hardesty leaning over the water near the edge of a harbor that's geotagged to the Florida Keys. It shows him then jumping off the harbor and landing on top of the pelican, launching a scuffle punctuated by the laughter of onlookers.
The bird then slapped Hardesty across the face with its beak and fled.
On Sunday, Hardesty posted onto Facebook that "I'm so hungry I could eat a pelican!!!"
Then on Monday, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office posted to Facebook that criminal charges are being filed against the man in the video. They said that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) are in the process of filing two criminal charges against the man, as he jumped on a state and federally protected pelican in the Florida Keys.
They also stated that several photos and videos of the same man with other animals have been posted on the internet. One photo reportedly shows the man holding a Key Deer, which is also federally protected.
“I shared the anger of those who contacted me regarding this video,” Sheriff Ramsay said in the Facebook post. “This type of behavior — the abuse of animals — will not be tolerated on my watch and I know our law enforcement partners at the FWC and at the federal level share that mindset. I would like to thank those who quickly brought to this my attention and to the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office and the FWC who responded quickly.”
See the full post by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office below.
The Asssociated Press Contributed to this report.