§ 10-423. Applicability of penalty provisions

   (a) Killing or wounding black bears in self defense. -- Any penalty imposed under this section does not apply to an individual who kills or wounds a black bear in defense of the individual's own life, the lives of other individuals, or the lives of animals on the individual's property.

(b) Penalties. -- If the Secretary adopts any regulation, including an emergency regulation, under § 10-205 of this title or § 10-405 of this subtitle to prohibit the hunting, possessing, selling, purchasing, shipping, carrying, transporting, or exporting of black bears, a person who violates the regulation is subject to the following penalties:

   (1) For a first offense, a fine not exceeding $ 1,500, imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or both; and

   (2) For a second or subsequent offense, a fine not exceeding $ 2,000, imprisonment not exceeding 1 year, or both.

HISTORY: 1986, ch. 687; 1990, ch. 6, § 2; 2012, ch. 698.