Charlotte Russ, a mother of many children from California, was fined 88 993 USD because her children collected shellfish on the beach, mistaking them for ordinary shells. This is reported by daily.afisha.ru with reference to the New York Post.
The incident occurred during a family trip to Pismo Beach, known as the “shellfish capital of the world”. Children, carried away by the game, collected 72 shellfish, unaware of the ban on collecting them without a special license.
The violation was recorded by Department of Fish and Wildlife officers, who issued Russ a fine.
“Before leaving, I opened the envelope and saw the amount. It was terrible, I was very upset, and it ruined our trip”, - Russ said.
According to the woman, this unpleasant experience became a valuable lesson for her family about the rules of behavior in the wild.
“Now my children know not to touch anything on the beach”, - the mother added.
After some time, Russ managed to get the fine reduced to 500 USD. In order not to forget about what happened, she even got a clam tattoo on her arm.
