Sevier News Messenger Sevier County News and Opinion
A woman who hand fed a black bear while visiting a Gatlinburg rental cabin and then posted the video online has been charged by wildlife officers.
According the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, its officers worked with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources to serve 21-year-old Kristin Hailee Farris, of Danville, Va., with a charge of Illegal Black Bear Feeding in Gatlinburg, a Class B Misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. Ferris is required to return to Sevier County for booking.
The incident allegedly took place on September 7, 2020 and Ferris later posted it to her TikTok account on September 30, 2020, where it quickly went viral and now has more than 500,000 views. The video shows Ferris intentionally hand feeding watermelon, chocolate and other food to a black bear. The video made its way onto local Sevier County facebook groups where users expressed outrage and called for her arrest.
These types of actions prompted new regulations in the year 2000 that prohibit anyone to feed a black bear or leave food or garbage in a manner that attracts bears. The regulations apply to a six square mile area of Gatlinburg and are intended to create a buffer zone to deter bears from going further into the city in search of food.
A similar incident occurred in 2016. In that case an Indiana couple pleaded guilty to feeding bears at a Gatlinburg cabin. They were assessed fines of $200 each with adjoining court costs of $270 each.
“The overwhelming desire to have a close encounter with a black bear is strangely more powerful than common sense,” says Sgt. David Sexton, TWRA Wildlife Officer for Sevier County. “Many people intentionally feed bears with little regard for the dire consequences to the bears and humans they leave behind.”
Wildlife officers have euthanized bears in the Gatlinburg area who became habituated to humans and unsecured garbage as a source of food.
Prosecute her and give her the maximum sentence. We have encroached on their territory not the other way around. We must be mindful of this and be good stewards of both the land and the animals we took the land from.
Goes to show the stupidity and ignorance of someone who thinks they are entitled!! Not thinking about consequences!!
And had she been mauled would probably have sued Gatlinburg;the cabin owner;the rental company ;etc….
I hope she gets a year for everything she feed it.because in the long run they will end up killing the bear or the next person in that cabin might not be so lucky😡😡😡😡
This sweet bear will likely die because of this woman’s foolish, selfish actions.
She deserves the maximum penalty for all charges! The only way these tourons are going to stop putting animals in danger is to start prosecuting them and quit letting them get away with things like this!!