Unlawfully entering or defacing a cave or cavern
Without permission from the owner or person in charge, it is against the law to damage or destroy anything inside a cave, including rock formations, or to break or tamper with any lock, gate, or door that keeps people out of a cave. Someone can be charged with this even if they never actually get inside. This does not apply to mining operations. Breaking this law is a class A misdemeanor.
Classifications stated in the statute. Actual outcomes vary.
569.135. entering or a cave or cavern — . — 1. Unless a person has the prior written permission of an owner, officer, , or of a cave or cavern, such person commits the of unlawfully entering or defacing a cave or cavern if he or she:
(1) or breaks, breaks off, cracks, carves upon, writes or otherwise marks upon, or in any manner destroys, , injures, defaces, removes, displaces, mars, or harms the surfaces of any cave or any natural therein including, without limitation, , , , , gypsum flowers, or needles, cave pearls, , draperies, , , columns or similar crystalline formation, including the host rock thereof; or
(2) Breaks, forces, tampers with, removes, or otherwise disturbs a lock, gate, door or other structure designed to prevent entrance to a cave or cavern. A person violates this whether or not entrance to the cave or cavern is achieved.
2. No additional may be made for the of this section.
3. The of this section do not apply to vertical or horizontal underground mining operations.
4. The offense of unlawfully entering or defacing a cave or cavern is a .
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Source & history notes
(L. 1980 H.B. 1192 § 3, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Transferred 2014; formerly 578.210; Effective 1-01-17 Caves open to public, requirements, 293.620
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.