GATLINBURG, Tenn. — A lady who made a TikTok video exhibiting her feeding a black bear is going through costs of unlawful black bear feeding.
Tennessee Wildlife Useful resource Company officers on Friday charged Kristin Hailee Farris, 21, of Danville, Virginia. In a Sept. 30 video Farris is seen within the social media video hand feeding what seems to be watermelon, chocolate and different meals to a black bear.
“The overwhelming want to have a detailed encounter with a black bear is surprisingly extra highly effective than frequent sense,” Sevier County TWRA Sgt. David Sexton mentioned. “Many individuals deliberately feed bears with little regard for the dire penalties to the bears and people they depart behind.”
The crime is a Class B misdemeanor carrying a penalty of as much as six months in jail and a $500 tremendous.
The legislation, created in 2000, prohibits anybody to feed a black bear or depart meals or rubbish in a fashion that draws bears.
The regulation applies to a 6-square-mile space of Gatlinburg and is meant to create a buffer zone to discourage bears from going additional into the town in the event that they aren’t fed or can’t get into rubbish.
The video continues to be reside on TikTok and has been considered greater than 500,000 occasions.
Farris is required to return to Sevier County for reserving.