Bigfork Man Charged with Unlawfully Killing 3 Grizzlies

Hopefully UTAH will follow the example of Prosecution!!

According to Brian Lakes, special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who investigated the incidents, Wallen shot the three bears after they consistently approached and entered a chicken coop at his residence.

On May 27, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Game Warden Chuck Bartos responded to a report of a man killing a grizzly. Court records state that Wallen admitted to shooting at the bear with a .22 rifle to scare it away from his chicken coop. Wallen told Bartos he was unaware if he hit the animal after it fled. Tim Clark, Wallen’s neighbor, contacted Wallen and said an injured grizzly was lying in the road behind their houses. Clark said the grizzly was seriously wounded and could only raise its head and front paws. Clark disposed of the grizzly by shooting it in the head with a .300 Remington rifle.

Investigators skinned the dead grizzly and found two small holes had punctured its stomach.

FWP Bear Biologist Tim Manley had received a voicemail message from Wallen’s wife stating the family was having problems with grizzly bears killing chickens. Wallen later reported that the grizzlies had killed more than 20 chickens in the days leading up to the incidents. The fence around the chicken coop was not electrified but there was a strand of barbed wire around the top. The grizzlies had smashed through the main door to the coop.

Manley contacted the family and asked if he could set up traps to capture the bears, and on May 28, while at the residence, Manley discovered a second dead grizzly in the brush near the location of the first dead grizzly, according to court documents.

Bigfork Man Charged with Unlawfully Killing 3 Grizzlies – Flathead Beacon.