Discovery of bloody wolf pelt prompts investigation

TWISP — Authorities investigating the killing of a protected gray wolf have searched two Twisp homes, seizing computers and photos.

Investigators discovered a wolf pelt inside a package leaking blood that was mailed overnight from Omak to Alberta, Canada, in December. Preliminary DNA tests indicate the animal was directly related to the Lookout Pack, discovered last summer living in the hills southwest of Twisp, according to an affidavit that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Jim Brown filed March 13 with an Okanogan County District Court warrant.

State and federal wildlife officials obtained warrants to search the Twisp homes of Bill and Suellen White, and Tom and Erin White. Bill White is a Twisp cattleman and wildlife biologist. His wife, Suellen, is a former Methow Valley School District superintendent. Tom White owns White Logging and Methow Valley Septic in Twisp.

At the homes, officials seized computers that included photos of a Twisp man with a large dead wolf, apparently different from the wolf pelt mailed in December.

There have been no arrests, and no charges filed.

In July 2008, Bill White talked to The Wenatchee World about the state's first gray wolf pack in 70 years. His ranch is near the wolf pack's range.

"I'm not all that excited about it. I'd rather they were in somebody else's backyard," he said.

"The government paid people to kill them off years ago, but they've lost sight of that." He added there were reasons people didn't want them around.

Conservation Northwest, a nonprofit group which photographed six pups from the pack last summer, is calling for immediate arrests and prosecutions by federal authorities. The penalty for killing an endangered animal is up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

"I'm just saddened and shocked that someone would have such disrespect for wildlife, and to think that they're above the law," said Jasmine Minbashian, the group's special projects director who has visited Twisp to talk to school children about the wolf pack.

"It outrages me that they don't think of the fact that these animals are a treasure to a majority of people in the state," she said.

Minbashian said the latest information about the pack indicates at least four wolves were traveling together, but the pack may have split in two.

She said the death of two pack members wouldn't necessarily damage the wolf family's ability to survive, but "they have a very strong sense of family, and there's no doubt in my mind that the loss of two individuals has affected the mood of the pack."

Officials with U.S. District Court in Spokane, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife either could not be reached or would not talk about the case.

Other information in Brown's affidavit and filed with the court warrant included the following:

On Dec. 23, a Wildlife enforcement officer was called to Anchor Printing, a private business at the Walmart store in Omak. The owner called police after a FedEx driver refused to pick up a package because it appeared to be leaking blood. The contents included the pelt from what appeared to be a freshly killed wolf, untanned and unprocessed, which was being shipped overnight to Hardisty, Alberta.

Wildlife officers reviewed surveillance tapes showing video of a woman who brought a similar-sized package to the store, and a video of her leaving in a red sport utility vehicle. The store owner later identified her from among a group of photos as Erin White, Tom's wife and Bill's daughter-in-law.

While their homes were being searched, Tom White told authorities he shot the wolf after it got caught in a barbed wire fence.

His father denied any knowledge of the incident.

The warrant included two photos of the son standing with a slain wolf.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent found the person in Canada to whom the package was being mailed had obtained a host license in 2007 naming Bill White as the hunter.

It is legal to hunt for wolves in Alberta, Canada, where the man lives.

There were also photos of treed cougars, hounds and an e-mail referencing a "bob" and "lion."

Authorities were searching computers for evidence related to unlawful hunting of endangered wildlife, illegal use of body gripping traps, and unlawful hunting of bobcat or cougar with the use of dogs, the affidavit states.

K.C. Mehaffey: 997-2512

mehaffey@wenatcheeworld.com