Wolf shooting case remains under review by prosecutor

Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy told the Gazette Tuesday morning that the case report of a wolf shooting last October in the Pullman area is still under review. The case file on the shooting has been submitted to the prosecutor’s office by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Tracy Tuesday said he could not comment on the case while it is still under the review process.

Wolves are still listed on the state endangered species list in eastern Washington, but de-listed at the federal level in this region.

In central and western Washington, wolves are listed as endangered at both the state and federal levels.

After submitting a public records request from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Gazette has received the official investigation report about the shooting that was investigated by WDFW Officer Douglas King and two other WDFW officers.

According to the 24-page report, Jonathan Rasmussen of Pullman pursued and shot a wolf because of concern for families and livestock close to the proximity of where he saw the wolf.

The report states that on the morning of Oct. 12, the Rasmussen family was on their way home from hunting when they saw a large black animal on a hill near Pullman.

When Rasmussen looked at the animal with a set of binoculars, he determined it was a black wolf.

Rasmussen, along with his wife Shawna and their two children, was driving on Kirkendahl Road west toward SR 195 when they saw the wolf. The intersection is about one and one half miles south of the junction on Highways 195 and 27 south of Pullman.

According to the report, Rasmussen told game agents he pursued the wolf across the highway to the west onto a dirt road as the wolf crossed in front of him.

Rasmussen said he followed it and saw the wolf again in the fields. He stopped in a driveway where it ran in front of him again and crossed the road. It was then that he took two shots, the second one hitting the wolf. Rasmussen looked for it, shot twice more but wasn’t sure if he hit it again. However, Rasmussen saw that the wolf was down and reported it to WDFW.

“I pursued the wolf because we have a horse boarding facility on the direct east side of SR 195, along with residences that have livestock and children,” he said in the report.

Rasmussen also told WDFW officers that he estimated the wolf was 500-1,000 yards from the horse barn when he first saw it as it stood on a hill. He also estimated that he was about 200 yards from the wolf when he took the first shot.

Shawna Rasmussen stated that they saw the wolf behind a house that’s across the road from their home.

“This wolf was across the street from my house with dogs and kids and my 26 horse boarding facility and near three other homes,” she said in the report, estimating that it was 200 yards from a pasture where they keep a cow and horses.

“We feared if he stayed here he would kill our animals or dogs. This wolf started less than a half mile from Pullman near lots of homes, kids and dogs, too close to town,” she said in her statement.

When WDFW officers arrived at the scene where the wolf was down, they at first thought the wolf was dead. They later noticed it was still alive, although gravely wounded. One of the officers euthanized the wolf.

Officers measured the route Rasmussen took as he pursued the wolf and found that he pursued the wolf for seven miles from the point of where he first saw the wolf to the place where the wolf died.