Man Arrested for Harassing Bison at Yellowstone Sentenced to 130 Days in Jail

Raymond Reinke will receive credit for the 21 days he's already served

Published on August 24, 2018 10:57 AM

The buffalo — er, bison — are free to roam again.

On Thursday, a judge in Wyoming sentenced the man who hopped out of his car and antagonized a bison at Yellowstone National Park last month to 130 days in jail, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

Raymond Reinke, 55, of Pendleton, Oregon, was sentenced to 60 days in prison for harassment of wildlife, 60 days for interfering with law enforcement and 10 days for disorderly conduct. One count of disorderly conduct and one count of presence in a park area when under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance were dismissed per a plea agreement. He also owes a $40 fine and was given five years of unsupervised probation, during which he cannot visit select national parks.

Reinke will receive credit for the 21 days he’s already served.

Reinke made national headlines earlier this month when a video of the bison incident went viral. The attention led national park officials on a manhunt; they ultimately found Reinke on Aug. 2 at Glacier National Park in Montana, where he was detained for a disturbance in the Many Glacier Hotel dining room.

Days before, he’d been arrested at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on a drunk and disorderly charge; he spent one night in jail and was released on bond. On July 31, he was stopped at Yellowstone and received a citation for not wearing a seatbelt as a passenger; it was hours later that the bison incident occurred.

ABC FOX Montana reported that in court on Thursday, Reinke apologized to the bison, saying, “I’m sorry to the buffalo. He didn’t deserve what I did to him. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to hurt that buffalo.”

Judge Mark L Carman replied: “You chased and hounded the bison. You’re lucky the bison didn’t take care of it, and you’re standing in front of me.”

The judge called Reinke’s incident the most “egregious” case of animal harassment he’d seen at Yellowstone.

During probation, Reinke is barred from using drugs or alcohol and will be required to go through drug and alcohol treatment.