FWS confirms illegal wolf poisoning up Squaw Creek
by Todd Adams
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The FWS is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to
an arrest or conviction of the person(s) responsible. Callers may remain
anonymous.
Special Agent Scott Kabasa may be reached at 208-378-5333.
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Nearly seven months after the carcass of a yearling male wolf was found
up the Squaw Creek drainage northwest of Clayton, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) has confirmed illegal poisoning as the cause of
death.
A January 16 news release stated the wolf, whose carcass was found May
18, 2003, was killed by a poison known as Compound 1080.
Scott Kabasa, a FWS special agent, told the Challis Messenger last week
that it took this long for confirmation to come back from an independent
lab.
The lab tests samples from a number of animal carcasses at the same time
and waits until it has a large enough batch, Kabasa said.
Kabasa said he has no leads, tips nor suspects in the case, so FWS is
seeking information from the public to help solve the crime.
Carter Niemeyer, wolf biologist and wolf recovery coordinator for FWS in
Boise, said he found the carcass. Niemeyer said he had been in the Squaw
Creek area on May 17 and received a signal from the wolf’s radio collar
indicating the animal was still alive and moving around. But on a return
trip the morning of May 18, Niemeyer picked up a different radio
signal-a “mortality signal” indicating the animal was down and had not
moved for a while, presumably dead.
Niemeyer said he searched and found the carcass of wolf B-143 from the
Buffalo Ridge Pack. He back-tracked the animal for 50 to 60 yards before
losing its trail. Niemeyer said he was unable to track the wolf back to
the source of the Compound 1080.
The Buffalo Ridge Pack’s home range includes the Squaw, Thompson and
sometimes Bayhorse drainages, said Niemeyer. With B-143 dead, there
should still be three wolves with radio collars left in the pack, he
said.
“It died a pretty gruesome death,” Niemeyer said, adding the wolf had
tumbled down a rocky slope, and it took him a long time to find the
carcass.
Kabasa and Niemeyer said animals poisoned by Compound 1080 die painful
deaths. The poison takes an hour or two to set in, then another hour or
two to kill the animal. Before they die, animals run in a “crazy,
out-of-control manner,” Kabasa said, vomiting and experiencing seizures.
Compound 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) is a colorless, odorless,
tasteless, water soluble, highly toxic chemical, according to the FWS
news release. Misuse of the chemical is illegal. It can be ingested by
livestock, family pets, hikers and children and can result in
respiratory failure, seizures and heart attack. Animals or small
children are most susceptible to poisoning due to ingestion, but the
substance’s toxins can also enter animal or human bloodstreams through
contact with abraded skin or wounds, or through inhalation of dust
particles.
“When people put this stuff out, it can also target livestock and dogs,”
Niemeyer said.
Kabasa said there have been no reports of other animal deaths since the
wolf carcass was found.
In the days when such use was still legal, Compound 1080 was used by
ranchers and others to kill predators such as coyotes by lacing meat
with the poison.
Niemeyer and Kabasa said they had no tally on the number of illegal wolf
shootings or poisonings since wolves were reintroduced in 1995.
Killing an animal protected under the Endangered Species Act is
punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and one year in jail. The FWS is
offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest
or conviction of the person(s) responsible. Callers may remain
anonymous.
Special Agent Kabasa can be reached at the law enforcement division of
the FWS’s Boise field office at (208) 378-5333.
Niemeyer said the Nez Perce Tribe was in the Challis area within the
last week, radio-collaring wolves. There have been no reports of other
illegal wolf killings, nor of any wolf depredations of livestock, said
Niemeyer.
But with area ranchers in the middle of calving season, it’s time to
“knock on wood,” Niemeyer said.