A woman from New Jersey was sentenced to 15 days in jail for setting free a helpless bear cub from a trap.
Catherine McCartney, a 50-year-old animal rights activist from Vernon, N.J., was handed the sentence by Municipal Court Judge James Devine, NJ.com reported. McCartney, who has a record of arrests related to bear hunt protests, pleaded guilty to obstructing “the administration of law and the prevention of the lawful taking of wildlife.”
The woman, a true animal lover and an animal rights activist is planning to appeal the sentence. According to the statement she read in court, the woman says she has no regrets in rescuing the poor animal.
“These animals are innocent and so I made the moral decision to let the bear go so he could run back to his mother, and it was the right thing to do,” McCartney reportedly said in the statement.
According to the Hill News The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said the department had installed two culvert traps inside the residential area to capture a bear, which activists have dubbed “Momma Bear,” that had been involved in two separate incidents with residents, neither of which resulted in injury.
Mark Nagelhout, who helped McCartney free the cub, also plead guilty to the same charges, the Independent reported. However, Nagelhout was reportedly not sentenced since it had been his first offense. Both of them were also fined with $1,316 each.
Source https://thehill.com; https://animaloversnews.com
