A man who posted a Facebook video of himself jumping onto a pelican and joked about it amid public outrage was booked into a Florida Keys jail late Monday night.
William Hunter Hardesty, 31, of Davidsonville, Md., returned to Florida to face charges after being arrested March 15 in Ocean City, Md., a week after he posted the video, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Hardesty is charged with two counts of trapping/injuring a wild animal, two counts of violating the Federal Migratory Bird Act and two counts of animal cruelty, and remains jailed on an $80,000 Bond, the Florida Keys Free Press reported Wednesday.
Hardesty is seen in the video at the edge of a dock at the Key West Historic Seaport luring the pelican toward him with a fish. When the bird came close, Hardesty jumped right onto the pelican and dragged it underwater.
When he surfaced, Hardesty held the struggling pelican, which appeared to bite him in the face as a bystander admonished him.
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Hardesty is being detained at the Stock Island Detention Center, the Florida Keys News reported. His court appearance is scheduled for April 30 at the Monroe County Courthouse.
“He will be held accountable for this attack on wildlife,” Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Florida Keys News.
Photo courtesy of the Maryland State Police.
