NEWPORT, Wash. – A man from Liberty Lake has been fined more than $8,000 in a plea agreement for killing two wolves in Pend Oreille County in 2016.
Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said Terry Leroy Fowler, 55, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful taking of endangered wildlife and a third count was dismissed under the agreement. Fowler will pay $8,000 in restitution to the WDFW and $293 in court costs. Authorities said a 364-day jail sentence was suspended but he will have to spend 30 days under home electronic monitoring.
WDFW officials said began their investigation into the case in February 2016, while they were following up on a wolf death near the LeCelrc Creek Road in Pend Oreille County. Authorities said evidence at the scene led WDFW police to property owned by Fowler.
In March 2016, WDFW served search warrants on Fowler’s cabin in Pend Oreille County and on his home in Liberty Lake. WDFW officials said they found evidence of wolf trapping, wolf hair, tissue, scat and two skulls.
In December 2016, the department received the results of a DNA analysis of evidence samples confirming they were from three separate wolves.
WDFW officials recommended three counts of unlawful taking of endangered wildlife to the Pend Oreille County Prosecutor’s Office in early 2017. Authorities said the plea agreement was finalized on Thursday.
Wolves are listed as endangered throughout Washington by the state and in the western two-thirds of the state under federal law, according to wildlife officials.
WDFW leaders said two other wolf poaching cases are still under investigation in northeast Washington. One involves the killing of a radio collared female wolf, once part of the Profanity Peak pack in Ferry County, whose carcass was found December 5, 2017 about 15 miles southwest of Republic. The other female wolf was found dead by hunters on November 12, 2017 within the range of the Dirty Shirt pack, about 10 miles southeast of Colville.
Anyone with information about these cases to contact WDFW at 877-933-9847 or 360-902-2936.
