Supreme Court rejects wolf killer's appeal

HELENA (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the appeal of a Montana man convicted of shooting a wolf that strayed from Yellowstone National Park, and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says the decision bodes well for the wolf reintroduction program.

The high court on Monday refused to consider the appeal of Chad McKittrick, who was convicted of shooting the wolf in April 1995 near Red Lodge. The wolf, one of those reintroduced to Yellowstone, was protected under the Endangered Species Act.

McKittrick later said he thought the wolf was a wild dog that could harm cattle. He was convicted of three misdemeanor charges of possessing, killing and transporting a federally protected species and sentenced to six months in jail.

Judge: Wolf plan illegal

McKittrick's appeal was rooted in a December 1997 ruling in which U.S. District Judge William Downes in Wyoming held that the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and central Idaho was illegal.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last year rebuffed that argument, ruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was authorized to import the wolves as an "experimental population" in an area where they were not reproducing naturally.

Federal law allows placement of an experimental population if the species is not already present in the area. Although occasional sightings of individual native wolves had been reported, the 9th Circuit said authorities reasonably decided that the importing was proper because there was no native population of wolves in the area.

Downes has ordered the removal of wolves released since 1995, but that order was stayed pending appeals. It now is pending before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Downes said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf program actually diminished the endangered-species protection given native wolves. His argument is based on the unproven belief that a different species of wolf was living in Wyoming before the Canadian wolves were introduced.

Babbitt pleased with decision

Decisions of the Supreme Court denying review cannot be cited as precedent in the federal courts. However, in a statement, Babbitt said the Supreme Court's decision not to disturb the 9th Circuit ruling bodes well for the appeal of the Downes decision in the 10th Circuit.

"The lower courts in this litigation made clear that the Fish and Wildlife Service's reintroduction of the gray wolf in the Yellowstone region was lawful, and that the killing of one of these wolves was illegal and warranted punishment. . . .

"The outcome of this litigation sends a clear signal that our legal system will protect reintroduced wild wolves . . .," Babbitt said.