A 22-year-old man from Queen Creek, Arizona, has been sentenced to four months imprisonment, six months house arrest, three years supervised probation, and 50 hours of community service for the October 18, 1998 killing of a Mexican gray wolf. The sentence was announced October 20, 2000 from the office of U.S. Attorney Jose de Jesus Rivera.

The man was charged by criminal complaint for the shooting of a Mexican gray wolf, an animal on the federal Endangered Species Act list. He was also charged with failure to report the shooting and for violating the Lacey Act by transporting the animal's body across state lines. The man admitted that he shot the wolf, failed to report the shooting, and then transported the animal from Arizona into New Mexico to avoid detection.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Verkamp stated during sentencing that he considers this an act of violence and defiance.

Special Agent Doug McKenna, as well as other agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, assisted by the Springerville Police Department and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, conducted the investigation that led to the successful prosecution. Camille Bibles, assistant U.S. attorney, handled the prosecution.

• Warden Miller contacted two hunters in Merced County in a field near Atwater whom he recognized from a previous incident last fall. One of the suspects had been placed on probation and had his hunting privileges revoked by the court. This same suspect now claimed his name was something different and produced a hunting license issued to his "new" name. After further investigation, Miller established his real identity and cited him for hunting while having his license suspended. Additional charges and a probation revocation hearing are pending.

• Wardens Galas, T. Spada and Grove and Lieutenant McKay set up a deer decoy on the night before the opening day of the D6 deer zone. This decoy was set up near Sonora Pass. The night was clear, but there were occasional wind gusts. As the operation progressed, the wind blew over the decoy. The observers hustled down to the decoy to set it up. A short time later, a spotlight was seen working toward the decoy location. The spotlighting vehicle panned the light all around the decoy area, but no shots were heard. The observers looked for the decoy, but only saw it legs. The wind knocked the decoy over again at a critical time. The vehicle was stopped up the road, however, and the subjects were each cited for spotlighting.