16 U.S.C. § 403c–3 — Criminal offenses concerning hunting, fishing, and property

submitted 89 years ago by ch. 703 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 450 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law bans hunting in the park, except to stop a dangerous animal from hurting someone. It lets people fish only with a hook and line, following rules set by the Secretary of the Interior. Anyone who breaks these rules or damages park property can be fined up to $500, jailed up to six months, or both.

You cannot hunt, kill, wound, or capture any wild bird or animal in the park at any time. The only exception is a dangerous animal that must be stopped from killing or badly hurting a person. You cannot take fish out of the park's waters except by hook and line. The Secretary of the Interior decides the seasons, times, and ways fishing is allowed. The Secretary of the Interior must write and publish general rules for running and caring for the park. These rules must protect park property — especially timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, and "wonderful objects" — from injury or theft. The rules must also protect the park's animals and birds from being captured, killed, scared, or driven away, and must control how fish are taken from the park's streams and lakes. If you are caught in the park holding the dead body (or any part of it) of a wild bird or animal, that is "prima facie evidence" against you — meaning it counts as proof you broke this law unless you show otherwise. Anyone — including a person, a stage line, an express company, or a railway company — who knows, or has reason to believe, that a bird, animal, or fish was taken illegally, and who then transports it, is guilty under this law. The same is true for anyone who breaks any other rule made by the Secretary, or who damages, injures, or steals timber, minerals, natural curiosities, or "wonderful objects" in the park, or who harms the park's animals, birds, or fish. It is also a crime to damage or destroy any building, fence, sign, hedge, gate, guidepost, tree, wood, timber, garden, crops, vegetables, plants, land, springs, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or anything else growing or located in the park. Breaking this law is a misdemeanor. The punishment is a fine of up to $500, up to six months in jail, or both — plus the cost of the court case.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

All hunting or the killing, wounding, or capturing at any time of any wild bird or animal, except dangerous animals when it is necessary to prevent them from destroying human lives or inflicting personal injury, is prohibited within the limits of said park; nor shall any fish be taken out of any of the waters of the said park, in any other way than by hook and line, and then only at such seasons and at such times and in such manner as may be directed by the Secretary of the Interior. The Secretary of the Interior shall make and publish such general rules and regulations as he may deem necessary and proper for the management and care of the park and for the protection of the property therein, especially for the preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonderful objects within said park, and for the protection of the animals and birds in the park from capture or destruction, and to prevent their being frightened or driven from the said park; and he shall make rules and regulations governing the taking of fish from the streams or lakes in the said park. Possession within said park of the dead bodies or any part thereof of any wild bird or animal shall be prima facie evidence that the person or persons having same are guilty of violating this Act. Any person or persons, or stage or express company, or railway company, who knows or has reason to believe that they were taken or killed contrary to the provisions of this Act, and who receives for transportation any of said animals, birds, or fish so killed, caught, or taken, or who shall violate any of the other provisions of this Act, or any rule or regulation that may be promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior, with reference to the management and care of the said park, or for the protection of the property therein for the preservation from injury or spoliation of timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonderful objects within said park, or for the protection of the animals, birds, or fish in the said park, or who shall within said park commit any damage, injury or spoliation to or upon any building, fence, sign, hedge, gate, guide post, tree, wood, underwood, timber, garden, crops, vegetables, plants, land, springs, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or other matter or thing growing or being thereon, or situated therein, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, and be adjudged to pay all the costs of the proceedings.

Source credit: (Aug. 19, 1937, ch. 703, § 3, 50 Stat. 701.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1937Enacted · Act of Aug. 19, 1937, ch. 703 · 50 Stat. 701

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 703 on 1937-08-19.

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