A Maryland man convicted in connection with last year’s shooting death of a wild mare at the Assateague Island National Seashore will pay fines and restitution and be banned from hunting on federal lands for five years.

Two herds of wild horses, divided into bands of two to 12 animals, reside on Assateague Island. Each occupies a home range: One herd, known as the Chincoteague ponies, resides on the Island’s Virginia side, while the other herd resides on the Maryland side. A fence at the Virginia/Maryland state line separates the herds. The National Park Service manages the Maryland herd.

In January 2011, a hunter discovered a wild horse carcass while participating in a scheduled two-day deer hunt on the Maryland side of the island and reported the finding to park rangers the following day. The hunt was part of the National Seashore’s annual hunting program used to manage the park’s resident deer population. Park officials determined that the 28-year-old mare had sustained a gunshot wound during the annual deer hunt and died almost immediately.

Park Service officials later charged Justin B. Eason of Easton, Md., with illegal taking of wildlife, use of a weapon that endangers persons or property, destroying living wildlife from its natural state, and knowingly giving a false or fictitious report. His father, John A. Eason II of Preston, Md., was charged with knowingly giving a false or fictitious report in connection with the incident