In 2018, Raymond Reinke from Pendleton, Oregon, pleaded guilty to harassing wildlife in Yellowstone National Park after being caught on video getting out of his truck and taunting a buffalo.
The video was filmed by a bystander sitting in the Park’s traffic that had come to a standstill because a buffalo decided to walk on the road.
Raymond, heavily intoxicated with alcohol, wanted to have one “last hurrah” before entering alcohol treatment and got out of his truck to try to intimidate the buffalo into getting off the road.
He yelled, screamed, and threw his hands in the air, and at first, it appeared to be working because the bison stepped off the road and a vehicle was able to continue driving past.
However, once the vehicle got past by, the bison turned around, walked back on the road, and went straight toward Raymond for a face-to-face challenge.
It was at this point, that Raymond knew…he messed up…and so, to prevent from being headbutted and gored by the charging bison, he tucked tail and ran away.
You’d think at this point, Raymond understood it wasn’t a great idea to taunt a 2,000-pound bull bison. However, he threw his hands up again and screamed at the beast, which only caused it to charge him again, and this time, also in the direction of the person filming.
Raymond ran off a second time while the person filming the video tucked back into the window of their truck. Later, the video showed Raymond strutting back to his truck while the bison still stood in the middle of the road blocking traffic.
Later, Raymond was arrested and then appeared in federal court in Mammoth, Wyoming, in August of 2018 where, at the time, he had already served 21 days in jail.
Raymond told the judge, ABC Fox Montana reported, “I’m sorry to the buffalo. He didn’t deserve what I did to him.”
The judge responded, “You’re lucky the bison didn’t take care of it, and you’re standing in front of me.”
He was then sentenced to 130 days in jail for his drunken behavior, minus the 21 days he already served. It broke down to 60 days for harassing wildlife, 60 days for interfering with law enforcement, and 10 days for disorderly conduct.
Raymond was also banned from Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks for a five-year probationary period during which he was not allowed to drink alcohol.