(CNN) --- A woman aged 25 from Illinois was sent to prison for four days of federal detention for being in close proximity to a wild and her cubs in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Samantha Dehring pleaded guilty on the 6th of October to "willfully not letting go, approaching and taking photographs of wildlife for more than 100 yards," according to an Department of Justice news release.
A second charge of feeding or touching or frightening, or even intentionally perturbing wildlife was ruled out.
In addition to four days of detention Dehring also received a year of probation that was unsupervised. She was also required to pay a fine of $1,000 as well as a $1,000 community service fee to the Yellowstone Forever Wildlife Protection Fund along with an additional $30 court processing fee and a 10 assessment. Dehring has been prohibited out of Yellowstone National Park for one year.
Dehring is scheduled to spend her federal prison sentence in a county prison, according to the Justice Department spokesperson.
According to the notices of violation they were charged in connection with an incident that occurred on May 10 2021 at Roaring Mountain, when a female grizzly along with her three cubs were seen. The other visitors gradually backed away and climbed into their cars, however Dehring was there. "She continued to snap pictures when the sow tried to bluff at her" according to the release states.
"Wildlife within Yellowstone National Park are, in fact wild. The park isn't an animal sanctuary where animals can be observed inside the confines of a fence. They can freely roam around in their natural environment and, when threatened, will respond to protect themselves," said Acting United States Attorney Bob Murray, in the Justice Department announcement. "Approaching an grizzly sow with cubs is completely foolish. This is the reason the Dehring case is one of a criminal and not a tourist who was mauled."
Yellowstone is a site that lists the prohibited actions on their site. The rules governing geysers in the park's famous geysers as well as the other features of thermal are listed as well as those related to wildlife.
"Approaching on feet at a distance of more than 100 meters (91 meters) of wolves or bears and within 25 feet (23 meters) of other animals is not permitted," another page reads..
