Killer Of Grizzly Gets 30-Day Term, Hunt Suspension

A Nordman, Idaho, man was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail and a year without hunting privileges for killing one of the region’s few remaining grizzly bears.

Carl Pitts pleaded guilty to shooting the “Nordman bear,” a 2-1/2-year-old grizzly, last October.

The animal was dropped by a slug from Pitts’ rifle three days after it was fitted with a radio collar. Biologists trapped the bear, and gave it its name, when they found it raiding Dumpsters near Priest Lake.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents said Pitts told his ex-wife he shot the bear along Granite Pass Road in Washington, a few miles from Idaho. He apparently mistook it for a black bear.

Although black bears were fair game at the time, Pitts didn’t have a Washington license. Agents said he planned to pretend he shot the 200-pound bear in Idaho, where he was licensed.

Court documents state Pitts recognized the dead animal as a grizzly, and guessed it was the Nordman bear when he saw its long claws and radio collar.

A friend helped Pitts destroy the collar and dump the bear north of Nordman, documents state. The friend later led a U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent to the carcass.

Pitts pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing a threatened species and transporting it across state lines. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Whaley sentenced him.

Pitts will serve his jail time on 15 consecutive weekends. He also will serve two years’ probation.

Biologists estimate that no more than 25 grizzlies live in the Selkirk Mountains of northeastern Washington and North Idaho. At least two others were killed by poachers last year.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S THE MAXIMUM? The maximum penalty for killing a grizzly, a violation of the Endangered Species Act, is a year in jail and a $100,000 fine. Few poachers receive such harsh sentences.