A man has been arrested after he allegedly ran around a campground in Idaho holding a pelican while he was intoxicated.
He was charged with a misdemeanour for disturbing the peace and resisting or obstructing officers on 11 July, according to East Idaho News.
The man was arrested at the Warm Slough campground in Rexburg. A witness called the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, reporting that three drunk men “had caught a pelican and were carrying it around the campground”, according to police reports.
Police arrived at the campground and issued a warning to the men, telling them they were harassing the wildlife.
Idaho Fish and Game states that pelicans are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Two of the men then allegedly started yelling at the officers.
The third man confessed that they had ensnared the pelican and attempted to calm down the others.
But court documents state that the two men instead continued to yell and “flip off” the officers.
One of the men is accused of starting to curse loudly and “causing a disturbance with the families and kids on the river’s edge”.
He then is reported to have reached out for one of the officers’ vests. He was tackled to the ground and handcuffed.
The man was taken to Madison County Jail and could spend as much as six months in prison if convicted.
