Kalispell Man Gets Probation for Illegal Wolf Kill

MISSOULA – A 49-year-old Kalispell man who pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act by illegally shooting and killing a wolf has been sentenced to two years probation and fined $3,000.

Robert E. Patton was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Missoula.

Prosecutors say he reported killing a wolf that was approaching him while he was hunting deer between Kalispell and Libby on Oct. 31, 2008.

Patton said he shot the wolf in the chest, but a veterinary medical examiner with the National Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, Ore., determined that the wolf was shot in the back left side.

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