Two Wolves Killed By Illegal Poison Animals Wore Radio Collars, Were Part Of Effort To Restore Species In Central Idaho

A long-banned form of rat poison was used to kill two wolves near Salmon, Idaho, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported this week.

The agency’s forensic laboratory in Ashland, Ore., confirmed that Compound 1080 was used to kill the wolves. Their bodies were recovered from the Panther Creek and Meyers Cove areas.

The wolves are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group, are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

The federal agency also is eager for people to know that the tasteless, odorless poison is being used and could be a threat to humans, such as someone who touches poisoned meat retrieved by their dogs.

“It’s nasty stuff,” said Rich McDonald, senior resident agent with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Boise. “Once we found out about it, instead of sitting on this, we thought the public should know.”

The two wolves were wearing radio collars as part of a controversial transplant effort to restore the species to central Idaho. The deaths were discovered when the collars’ signals indicated the animals hadn’t moved, McDonald said.

Two other animals, a fox and rancher’s dog, were found poisoned, McDonald said. Compound 1080 is suspected in those deaths, too. McDonald would not confirm the dates the poisoned animals were found, but said all were in the past year. He would not say whether the animals were male or female.

Compound 1080 could poison a person by entering the body through damaged skin or by being inhaled along with dust particles. Most often, he said, it kills when it is ingested.

“It will kill any carnivore that happens to ingest baited meat or carcasses of dead animals that have already been poisoned, as well as cattle or birds that have eaten poisoned grain,” he said.

Canines - dogs, wolves, coyotes - are most susceptible, he said.

Poisoning symptoms include convulsions, seizures, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, blistering of tissues, throat irritation and coughing.

The killing of an endangered species is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine. Use of Compound 1080 by an individual is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine; Maximum penalty for a commercial operation is $25,000 and a year in jail.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has leads in the case, but no suspects, McDonald said. He urged anyone with information to call (208) 378-5333 in Boise or (208) 523-0855 in Idaho Falls.

Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the Defenders of Wildlife, said his group worked to ban 1080 in the 1970s and ‘80s. He called it one of the deadliest poisons in the world.

“I can think of no more cowardly act than to indiscriminately spread poison baits so that animals will ingest them and die,” he said.