Animals, Criminal law, Environment

Maryland Man Under Investigation After Disturbing Video Of His Jumping On A Pelican


According to the Baltimore Sun, a Maryland man is now under investigation following a disturbing video in which he jumps on a pelican floating in the water in the Florida Keys. Hunter Hardesty of Davidsonville posted the video to his Facebook account and appeared surprised that a wide array of readers condemned his harmful and juvenile conduct.

The video shows Hardesty leaning over to tempt the pelican with food and then jumping on the bird — driving it below the surface. When they both surface, Hardesty then manhandles the bird as others laugh in the background. The bird then snapped at Hardesty who let it go.

The investigative department of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating and hopefully there will be some sanction for this stupid and dangerous conduct.

The brown pelican is protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Florida state law. That includes a prohibition on feeding or molesting the birds. It would also seem that animal cruelty would be a possible charge.

For his part, Hardesty seemed to be clueless. On his posting, he exclaimed “Yea they bite hard !!!” Even after the outcry, Hardesty seemed to have no appreciation of how he was endangering the animal and acting like a toddler. Upon his return to Maryland, he wrote “The book blowin up on a Friday !! Sheesh,” Hardesty wrote.

27 thoughts on “Maryland Man Under Investigation After Disturbing Video Of His Jumping On A Pelican”

  1. Maryland Man Under Investigation After Disturbing Video Of His Jumping On A Pelican

    Hunter Hardesty of Davidsonville may be a moron but he is not a criminal.

    The brown pelican is protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Florida state law. That includes a prohibition on feeding or molesting the birds. It would also seem that animal cruelty would be a possible charge.

    Suppose a person in dire-straits was forced out of necessity to kill a brown pelican (or any other protected animal) in order to feed themselves or their family – would state and federal prohibition on feeding or molesting the birds still apply?

    Sorry children we all have to starve as mommy and daddy have been laid-off from the local home-town General Motors manufacturing facility for 16 months our unemployment benefits have run out and the cupboard is bare but we are not allowed to catch and eat any of Earth’s creatures that have been arbitrarily decreed verboten by a not-so kind hearted Uncle Sam – sorry – it’s off to bed for you with an empty belly.

    Federal/state prohibition on the killing of some animals is wholly arbitrary as a common denominator in Earth’s distant/recent past is extinction. Greater than 95% of all living organisms that once lived on planet Earth have died-off via natural processes.

    http://discovermagazine.com/2018/jul-aug/mass-extinctions

    1. Seriously Personna?
      The vid is pretty clear and the ignoramus doesn’t look starving or desperate or anything even close…hahahahahaha. He’s lucky he didn’t kill the bird (immediately). Is he here on Spring break? Partying with the gross influx of drunken stupidity that happens this time of year? That’s an interesting budget for a starving out of work (?)child. In any event he wasn’t the yearly drunken loon falling or diving 14 stories into a pool….or just missing it…..sans the soft feathery pillow of a protected living animal. The guy should go back to Maryland and stop menacing our Wildlife.

  2. Speaking of a bird around the neck and juvenile behavior in pursuit of “fun,” I see Stormy Daniels got that albatross off of her neck in bagging her lawyer and blog favorite, Michael Avennati. Seems she’s getting a new lawyer to “review” all her legal dealings. Notify the malpractice carrier, Michael, justified or not, I see a claim coming.
    https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/12/michael-avenatti-drops-stormy-daniels-as-client/

    2. And yet again when Hillary/DNC/RINOs/DOJ/FBI/Mueller&co have to change the narrative from their sedition & espionage against the US govt they roll out Stormy for a few days of air cover.

      Dan Bongino knows where to focus at. yesterday’s video, around the second half.

      1. Hillary wasn’t in Helsinki hiding the marching orders Putin gave her, that was …. wait, what are you talking about?

        1. Is that were Hillary’s plane came down in a corkscrew landing & she had to run out under sniper fire or were you thinking of some other of your bullsh*t stories?

  3. It is not clear from the video that he jumped onto the bird other than to hug it.

    2. It is not at all clear from your reply if your brain is properly functioning, but the available evidence indicates it is not

  4. acting like a toddler.

    Ye gods you’re insufferable sometimes.

    What’s disconcerting about stories like this is that it’s a reasonable inference one of his ‘friends’ grassed him up to the authorities.

  5. Damn…I was hoping that Pelican would get his nose or face, and we would see how the tides have turned Homo sapien. ::sigh:: Another day…

    1. Oky1….oh my gosh. I would say “only in texas”, but Louisiana is not far behind.
      One time we saw a dog in a dog kennel strapped to the top of a small pickup driving through Louisiana.
      (But it had texas tags)

      1. Something like 30 years ago on a Tulsa express way a pickup driven by a gal, I assumed it was the mom, had the bed full of stuff like they were moving & she had a maybe 12/13 year old boy standing on the tail gate try to hold up a refrigerator. ( No Ropes!)

        Wasn’t anything I could, I just hoped they got to where they were heading safely.

        OT, a pretty mean storm looks to start here in 4 hours.

            1. Take another look at that map now.

              Use the wind speed & wind gust map options.

              Right now wind gust are running about 75 mph in the Texas Panhandle & that system is expected to roll across the eastern part of the country.

              It’s a weird looking storm.

          3. Look at that map right now, just as predicted more then 24 hours ago , the low hooked hard right. Great 4 those us here as we’ve no need for 80-100 mph winds on our roofs & electric lines as they had all afternoon west of here..

  8. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will write-up a detailed report and call it…The Pelican Brief. 😊

  9. It seems to be a human weakness that behaviors that seem quite offensive to some are just funny or normal to others. Brains operate differently. Respect for other living beings requires a higher level of brain function, IMHO.

    1. You’re not funny or normal, nor do you give evidence of a ‘higher level of brain function’

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