The Idaho man who shot and killed a female wolf pup while standing behind his pickup truck on a public road has been officially charged - and faces only nominal punishment.
According to a local report, a man identified as Randy Strickland of Eagle, Idaho, has been officially charged with “taking a game animal illegally and shooting from or across a public highway.”
If Strickland is convicted, he may have to pay a small fine ranging from $200 - $1,000, and perhaps up to just six months in jail.
Wolves need all the help they can get – climate change, hunters, agricultural communities campaigning for eradication and shrinking territories all threaten their continued existence. The dogs they bred with have already disappeared, and the wolves may still follow.
A wolf was shot from a helicopter in Montana after avoiding hunters for months. The wolf had been picking off sheep from a ranch along with his mate, who was killed in November.
Wolves were removed from the endangered species list in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho this Spring, but a lawsuit from environmental groups reinstated the dwindling species position on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service list. However, wolves that are believed to be killing livestock can be legally hunted.
Michael M. Phillips recently blogged for the Wall Street Journal about some bad press that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is receiving from environmental groups in the form of the above video:
“Soon after she took office, Palin proposed that the state provide a $150 ‘incentive’ for aerial wolf hunters; to collect it the hunters would have to turn in the animal’s severed left forepaw. Several environmental groups immediately attacked the proposal as an illegal ‘bounty’ and sued the state. The court
In an uncharacteristic move, the Bush administration announced today they are withdrawing attempts to remove gray wolves living in the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list. Such a rule would have opened the way for public hunting of wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming this fall.
