Skinned wolf creates cross-border legal quandary

It was hailed last summer as a rare triumph for American nature: the unexpected return to Washington state of wild wolves -- believed to be migrants from populations in B.C. and Alberta -- for the first time in about 75 years.

But the excitement among U.S. biologists and Washington's wildlife-loving public over the comeback of the "Lookout pack" has turned to outrage after an employee at a FedEx outlet in northern Washington noticed blood dripping from a package scheduled to be shipped to Canada.

Inside the package -- identified as a "rug" on the shipping label -- was the freshly skinned pelt of a grey wolf, which state officials promptly tested and confirmed had come from one of the Lookout wolves. The animals, which are strictly protected under U.S. endangered-species legislation, are being closely monitored by scientists, who had gathered DNA samples.

The grisly FedEx discovery has prompted investigations in both the U.S. and Canada, where Alberta wildlife officials and lawyers from the federal Department of Justice are trying to determine whether the intended recipient of the bloody pelt -- a hunter from Hardisty, Alta. -- has broken any Canadian law.

Alberta government's top natural resources investigator, Rick Servetnyk, said it wasn't clear yet whether the Alberta man was even aware that the pelt was being shipped to him. "I don't have the answer to that intent, but I clearly would like to have that answer."

Details of the investigation by U.S. wildlife officers are found in court documents released by Conservation Northwest, the Washington-based organization that first captured pictures of the wolves last summer with remote cameras placed in the state's mountainous northern woods south of the B.C. border.

"This has become an international incident," Mitch Friedman, the group's executive director, said. "We've waited for decades to restore wolves to Washington."

Conservation Northwest has condemned the "senseless and bloody act of poaching" and urged authorities to "prosecute this case under the full extent of the law."

Friedman called the return of the wolf to Washington "incredibly uplifting" for state residents -- "not just to have the wolves back, but to know that these habitat connections are functioning. A lot of our most majestic wildlife in the U.S. depends on the larger source populations in Canada."

While wolves can be legally hunted in Alberta, killing one in Washington -- where they are protected by both state and federal laws aimed at restoring the iconic species -- is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and a year in jail.

Investigators traced the wolf pelt to the home of Tom White, a hunter in Twisp -- the town nearest to the Lookout pack's territory -- and whose father, William, is a neighbouring rancher and an outspoken opponent of wolf restoration in Washington.

State wildlife agents contacted Servetnyk, who provided information about the Hardisty man, Ralph Bausen, to whom the pelt was being shipped.

Servetnyk discovered Bausen had hosted William White during a hunting trip in Alberta in 2007.

"The attempted export obviously was not successful," Servetnyk said. "One of the things that is being looked at is whether an attempt is sufficient to support a charge under Canadian law."

He added that Alberta officials have had "initial discussions with the Department of Justice" in Ottawa, but "we haven't got a clear-cut answer."

A search was executed by agents in Washington, and a White family computer yielded photographs of two dead wolves and e-mail exchanges with Bausen.

Court documents state the Washington investigators suspect the wolf was trapped illegally by one of the Whites, who were essentially planning to launder the pelt in Canada, where it's legal to hunt wolves, and have the skin tanned and preserved.