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Poacher ordered to watch Bambi as part of sentence

Prosecutors believe hundreds of deer have been killed illegally (File pic)
Prosecutors believe hundreds of deer have been killed illegally (File pic)

A Missouri man has been sentenced to watching the classic animated Disney film 'Bambi' at least every month during his year-long sentence in jail for his role in killing hundreds of deer illegally, according to reports in US media.

David Homer Berry, 29, was among a group of poachers, which included his father and brothers, that state regulators say was one of the biggest poaching cases ever in Missouri.

David Homer Berry (Lawrence County Sheriff's Office)

The men were guilty of violating numerous hunting laws, including hunting out of season, using prohibited weapons, such as lights that temporarily blind the deer, and killing the deer while cruising from inside a moving vehicle.

County Judge Robert E Greene, when sentencing Berry to a year in jail, also ordered him to watch the iconic 1942 animated film about a baby deer named Bambi who tragically loses its mother to hunters and is befriended as an orphan by other woodland creatures.

The reports say that Berry was arrested in August, along with his father and a brother, following an almost nine-month-long investigation that looked into suspects from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and even Canada.

It said a dozen individuals were tied to the deer killings in Missouri alone and some 230 charges made across nearly a dozen counties.