Clayton Stoner fined $10K, gets 3-year hunting ban for killing bear

— -- ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia -- Anaheim Ducks defenseman Clayton Stoner is banned from hunting for three years and must pay $10,000 for killing a grizzly bear on British Columbia's central coast.

Stoner, 30, acknowledged through his lawyer Wednesday that he had breached the provincial Wildlife Act during the hunt in May 2013. Lawyer Marvin Stern said his client mistakenly believed he was qualified to participate.

Stoner wasn't in the Abbotsford court, and Stern pleaded guilty on his behalf to hunting without a license.

Provincial Judge Brent Hoy accepted that Stoner thought he was qualified as a resident, but the law had still been breached.

The government dropped four other charges against Stoner, including knowingly making a false statement to obtain a hunting license, hunting out of season and unlawfully possessing dead wildlife.

The case drew attention in 2013 when an online picture showed him holding the severed head of a grizzly. He said in a statement released by the Wild that year that he had the necessary permits and licenses.

Coastal First Nations, an alliance of native groups in British Columbia, identified the slain bear as "Cheeky," which it says was 5 years old, in a 2013 statement. However, Stern said in court Wednesday that Stoner requested a DNA test on the bear after he was charged. According to Stern, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service's testing found the bear to be 18 years old.

"It clearly wasn't Cheeky," Stern told the court.

Coastal First Nations representatives maintain that the slain Bear was indeed "Cheeky," telling reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday that they might have been mistaken about the animal's age.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.