SPOKANE, Wash. — A man in the state of Washington has pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a protected grey wolf and send its pelt to a friend in Canada in exchange for a moose killed there.
William D. White of Twisp, Wash., pleaded guilty Wednesday in Spokane to three federal charges, including conspiracy to take and transport an endangered species.
The Spokesman-Review reports that charges against the 62-year-old man’s son and daughter-in-law are still pending.
The case stemmed from a 2008 report of a suspicious package that appeared to be leaking blood and had been left with a private shipping company in Omak, Wash..
The package was addressed to a resident in Alberta.
Police discovered the package contained a fresh wolf pelt.
According to the Spokesman-Review, a search warrant found emails talking about the eradication of wolves using traps and poison.
White reportedly had travelled to Alberta in December 2008, where he hunted illegally on a local man’s tag. He returned from that hunting trip with a moose and a whitetail deer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Ohms said the investigation showed that White, and his family, engaged in a pattern of illegal game hunting.