Last week I mentioned that I was having trouble finding the law that Kenneth Herron supposedly violated when he infiltrated the bear grotto at the San Francisco Zoo. I speculated that it might have been section 5.08 of the San Francisco Park Code, which makes animal-disturbing a misdemeanor, and a reader has confirmed that by directing me to this September 28 press release from the San Francisco DA's office, which cites that section.
It seems a little odd to me that Herron's arraignment warranted a press release, since they clearly don't announce every arraignment that way. A lot of the press releases on that site have to do with new initiatives or convictions, and those I understand. If you have convicted the culprits in a triple homicide, as a couple of these press releases indicate, that is something to be proud of and to announce to the world. If you have charged a mentally-ill man with disturbing a bear, maybe not so much.
