By Joyce Campbell
Federal and state agents are continuing an investigation of three members of a prominent Methow Valley family regarding the death of one of the pups from Washington state’s only wild gray wolf pack.
Tom White, of Twisp, admitted killing a wolf, and reportedly told agents that his wife, Erin, attempted to ship the pelt to Canada, according to a court affidavit filed by state wildlife officials. Tom’s father, Bill White, was also questioned and gave contradictory answers regarding his alleged complicity in the crimes of killing the pup and an adult wolf, attempted smuggling and other illegal hunting activities. No charges had been filed in the case as of Tuesday (March 31).
Agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife served a search warrant at the Twisp homes of Tom and Erin White and Bill and Suellen White on Feb. 25...
March 30, 2009 4:00 PM
Okanogan wolf killing (click here)
Stand up for endangered species
Editor, The Times:
The unconscionable killing of two young gray wolves of the Lookout Pack in the Methow Valley is horrible beyond belief ["Bloody box tips officials to Okanogan wolf killing," Times, page one, March 28]. The greed and insensitivity of humans, who are actually far more dangerous than wolves, is deplorable and must be exposed and opposed.
Several conservation groups have been working together in coalition since last summer to educate the public about the importance of wild wolves and other predators in the ecosystems of our state. These include the North Cascades Conservation Council's Wolf Working Group, the Wildlife Coalition of the National Parks Conservation Association, the Cascade Chapter of the Sierra Club, and Conservation Northwest.
We have been collecting signatures on a petition to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. We are urging Fish and Wildlife to formulate wolf-conservation policy based on sound science -- not to allow the producers (ranchers and sheep growers) to control the policymaking process....
(click title to entry - thank you)...After May 4, wolves will be protected under state and tribal laws in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. Minnesota has about 3,000 wolves while Wisconsin and Michigan each have more than 500. That’s up from fewer than 500 wolves confined to the Superior National Forest in Minnesota in the 1970s....
