Man sentenced for harassing wildlife

GRAND FORKS (AP) — A man shown in a photo kneeling beside a live deer with a snowmobile on top of the animal has lost his hunting privileges for two years.

Steven Bonderud of Grand Forks also was given a 10-day suspended jail sentence and was ordered to pay $250 in restitution and $225 in court costs for harassing wildlife.

The 21-year-old Bonderud was cited in March, after game warden Gary Rankin got a tip about the photo on Bonderud’s private Facebook site.

Court records show Bonderud told the warden the deer had a broken leg and that he circled back off the trail before running onto it with his snowmobile.

Bonderud also admitted he ran over a rabbit. He said he did not want to slow down for fear of being thrown from the snowmobile. Another snowmobiler also told Rankin he and Bonderud had run over rabbits on the trail.

Tags: news, crime, snowmobile, wildlife, outdoors, northland, rec, sports