Bureaucrats Pass the Buck
Here’s the latest news report from the great state of Montana:
MISSOULA — The Missoula County sheriff’s office has ended its investigation into the fatal shooting of a malamute on Lolo Pass by a hunter who apparently mistook it for a wolf.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Paige Pavalone said Monday the agency passed the case over to the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service, the Missoulian reported.
“There is no criminal activity here, and this is out of our jurisdiction,” Pavalone said. “We don’t have any witnesses and we’re not investigating the situation any further.”
Spokespersons for both FWP and the Forest Service had said Monday morning that they believed the case would be a criminal matter.
Photo by Oliver Starr
Exposing the Big Game 
Wrong!
Well, I for one am not surprised. After-all, hunters get away with killing people all the time. All they have to do is say they thought their own hunting buddy was a squirrel.
Yep, it happens all the time.
NO charges will be filed……….huh?
http://missoulian.com/news/local/authorities-spoke-with-hunter-who-killed-dog-say-he-won/article_8fcfa2a4-523b-11e3-a18d-0019bb2963f4.html
Thanks for the update, Jerry. This whole case has me loosing sleep. Hopefully, new, better laws for all those gray areas will come out of this tragic insanity. We all knew this would happen to wolf-like dogs if they went ahead with wolf hunting but this case is much worse than usual.
Thanks for the link, Jerry. Unbelievable.
i am so sorry to hear about the loss of your beautiful fur baby .. please know that he/she is over the rainbow bridge along with all the other fur babies and wild beautiful creatures .. i wish i had the funds to open a wildlife sanctuary .. i am ashamed to be human bc of what selfish hunters are doing not just to wolves but all of God’s/Goddesse’s creatures
Your a bunch of cowards, how can you say no foul play, the dog was with it’s owner. Who told him to stop shooting, and he kept shooting 5 more times. So how is that not foul play. When are you actually doing some thing about the gun license, or is that more shite. Your full of shite.
Thanks. If the Sherriff’s office is reading, this message was for you.
Ok, now if i want to kill somebody, i just need to go hunting with this person, shoot him/her and say “i thought it was a deer”? What kind of world we live in?!
Sad, isn’t it?
I am hoping that Mr. Spence will think over civil charges. He does have a very good case for civil court now that the cops know who the shooter is. The only good I see coming out of this is awareness and possibly a change in the laws that currently allow people to just kill your pet and not identify themselves, just walk away! I mean geez, if he had scratched Mr. Spence’s truck, he would have to leave his name, phone contact and insurance info, but he slaughters a beautiful 2 year old Malamute and walks off!
Hunting, like driving, is NOT a right! If getting a hunting license was as hard as getting a tractor trailer licence, and included split-second decision-making testing, a lot of this kind of BS would be stopped by having to have the common sense to pause and identify exactly what the creature is and the laws involving it and the surroundings. I am still waiting to find out what is going on as far as the other bullets that didn’t hit Little Dave! Did they even check? If there is a dead creature or human out in the woods in the line of fire, that would change everything! Not that I hope someone got hit but if there is so much as a dead crow blown to bits and the bullet matches the gun, Elmer Fudd-up is on the wrong side of law, criminally, I believe?
I don’t know any of the people involved but I really do think Mr. Spence should look into the civil lawsuit end of this. If he wins, providing he planned to use Little Dave as a stud dog, he could potentially be awarded all the potential earnings over the lifespan of the average Malamute and his costs, court costs, and use that to turn this tragic event into a degree in Vet Medicine and go live someplace safer for northern breeds. Summit Co. Colorado, down on the Blue River between Silverthorne and the Williams Fork Pass used to be really nice and there are good trails there with public access. You didn’t have to be a trust fund kid to live there. But I haven’t been back there in several decades. I hope it hasn’t changed much. If so, it is very safe, very rural, nice people. Gets wicked cold there and lots of snow, just right for Malamutes. 🙂
I no nothing about firearms, zero, zilch, nada, but if that happened to me, I would hunt down the hunter and shoot him. I know it’s easy for me to talk a bit story but I’m almost 100% certain I would find that hunter and give him a taste of what it feels like to be shot multiple times.
This was a horrible act. I have had many Siberian Huskies & Malamutes. Now that this mess of wolf slaughtering is going, we have to put our beautiful dogs that are breed to be outdoor, loving snow animals. Now you have a case of unmistaken identity. How sad that these owners lost there beautiful animal which I’m sure is part of the family. Sick that nothing is being done abt this. You could never replace their beloved pet, but maybe some closer if the investigation was still open!! My condolences to the family that lost their beautiful, beautiful dear animal!
It figures all they care about are the hunters. Could have been a child would he than say no harm no foul. What a JACKASS. Sorry for your loss.
How rediculous is that! A man murders this beautiful dog and he gets away with it….Of course they shouldnt be allowed to be murdering these beautiful wolves either. Where is the justice for this poor dog and his family.