“LAS CRUCES – Two men in separate cases in federal court last week each pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a Mexican gray wolf, a misdemeanor.
Jack Bruton, 60, of Magdalena in Socorro County, and Ron Rains, 57, of Reserve in Catron County, said they initially thought they were shooting a coyote, for which no permit is needed.
Bruton was cited for shooting a Mexican gray wolf, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act, on April 15, 2010. Rains was cited for shooting a lobo on Dec. 2, 2010.
According to monthly reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a female wolf that roamed alone, designated F1154, was discovered dead under suspicious circumstances in April 2010. The wolf Rains shot appears to have been a 13-year-old female, designated F521, that was a member of the Fox Mountain Pack in New Mexico.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, after Bruton shot and killed a wolf he thought was a coyote, he took the wolf to his home where he removed a collar, fitted with a GPS device. …
A U.S. magistrate judge fined Bruton $250 and ordered him to pay $4,095 in restitution, including $2,095 to cover the cost of the collar and GPS device.
In the other case, Rains was driving through the Apache National Forest near his home in Reserve when he shot and killed a wolf he believed was a coyote. After realizing he had shot a wolf, Rains reported the matter to local law enforcement.
Rains had been told two days before the shooting that a wolf was in the area where it was shot, according to court records.
The judge fined Rains $250 and ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution.
Wildlife officials last month discovered a female wolf from the Arizona-based Rim Pack dead in a case that is under investigation.”
**Special thanks to Rene Romo / Journal South Reporter from Lobos of the Southwest for providing this information!
The Wolf Preservation Blog 
It’s too bad that the fines are so little…perhaps if they were fined over $10,000, a message would be sent to those who would kill the wolves….these jerks got off too light in my opinion.
That is not fair. These men should have been give more fines than this and made to go to prison for this.
They killed two Endangered Wolves and all they got was a slap on their hands.
Agree with both Kim and Barbara….until we get some tougher laws in place, with higher fines/or prison time…this will just keep on happening.
Judges need to get some education on this situation also….and start taking it more seriously…
I really do not understand why poachers like them do still have the right to hunt ! Why do the law do not consider them as eco-terrorist and definitly not allow them to hunt till the end of their life ?
Why environmental groups do not ask for this ?
Lets say :
15,000$ to 25000$ to pay as a dedomagement for environmental group
1 year to 3 year in jail
Riffle confiscated with no right to buy others.
Interdiction to hunt for ever
To figure on a police and an ecologique card-index file.
Is that so difficult to ask for ? Why should people give money to protect or help for reintroduction and others who have all the right to destroy the job and the hope of people ?
Start to consider, with this first idea, that human kill or animal one are the same and have to be punished in the same way.
That will help, one day, for others animals who are not under protection. Not considering animal, anymore, like a toy.