Beauty Queen vs Grizzly Bears by Isabella Montague

        Former Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, is being charged with up to $10,000 and a year in jail for illegally killing a bear and than lying about it. Vail was in Alaska, where one needs to get a tag in order to kill a large animal without an in-state license. Vail had gotten one in order to kill a grizzly bear, and after she had shot it she attempted to put another bullet in it and make sure it was dead, but her shot had accidentally gone into another bear that had been close by, killing it. Vail then improperly tagged the other bear by trying to get a tag and lying about when it was bought to try and cover it up. Later she fessed up to the crime of the illegal kill and apologized for lying about it. 

http://news.yahoo.com/former-beauty-queen-faces-jail-time-grizzly-bear-002759322.html

        Since killing the second bear was an accident, I think that Vail should have confessed from the start instead of lying about it. This would have put her in much less trouble, since she is not being charged for the kill but instead for lying about it. Although honestly, I think that this is a lot of work for trying to kill an animal, especially one that is endangered in many states. It is interesting to me that there are many laws like this one protecting the kill of animals so that they can have some sort of control over how many get killed. Back when Anerica was first starting off as "the new world", such laws were not in place because animals had to be used as food, and we were not organized enough to have such a system to keep the killing of animals on record. Although there also weren't any beauty pageants or a "Miss Kansas" because there wasn't even a Kansas. 

-Isabella Montague 5th period