Grant County men charged with killing grizzly bear
U.S. Fish and Wildlife/courtesy Photo<br> U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials crouch next to the seized grizzly bear hide. The federal agency blacked out the man's face and did not explain why.
SPOKANE — Two Grant County men are accused in U.S. District Court with killing a grizzly bear in 2007.
Brandon Rodeback, Moses Lake, and Kurtis Cox, Warden, are charged with possessing an unlawfully killed endangered species and transporting it.
They are summoned to appear in federal court Aug. 11.
Law enforcement were notified about the dead bear after another hunter spotted the two men allegedly moving the bear from one truck to another in a motel parking lot in Ione, on Oct. 1, 2007, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife affidavit. When the man inspected the animal, he recognized it as a grizzly bear.
When he approached Rodeback and Cox, they reportedly told him it was a black bear. After he informed them it was a grizzly, the men allegedly became nervous, leaving the parking lot, according to court records. The man noted the license plate number of their truck.
Police traced the license plate back to Rodeback, and used the motel registration and hunter’s permits to find Cox, according to court records. When wildlife officials questioned Rodeback, he allegedly told them the bear was running across the road, when he shot at the bear. After missing, Cox reportedly fired, hitting the bear. The two men finished the bear off, putting it in the back of the truck.
Rodeback allegedly told police he thought it was a black bear, which are legal to kill in Washington, according to court records.
The two men allegedly brought the bear to a Warden shop, skinning it and burying the carcass on Cox’s father’s farm, according to the affidavit. Federal and state officials recovered the hide and carcass.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Mike Cenci called the loss of the grizzly bear a set back for recovery efforts, adding there are about a handful of grizzlies in the Northern Cascades and about a dozen in the Selkirk Mountains. The bear was tagged with a radio transmitter and followed for the past 14 years.
“This bear has consistently produced cubs year after year, and, even more important, it’s stayed out of trouble,” he said. “An animal that was really important to grizzly recovery was taken out of the gene pool.”
While he wasn’t able to comment on this particular case, he said there are education programs available to hunters to teach them the differences between grizzlies and black bears. The department and other organizations concerned with grizzly recovery issue fliers, hold classes and post signs to help the grizzly population.
He added the bear was shot in a grizzly recovery zone, adding there are distinguishing characteristics for a grizzly, such as a shoulder hump and a lower rump than the black bear.
“You shouldn’t use color for identification because black bears are often confused with grizzly bears. Young black bears can be brownish and tannish. It’s much more common to misidentify a black bear as a grizzly bear, but it doesn’t mean the reverse can’t happen,” he said. “We have a good hunter education program and one of the cornerstones of the instruction is, ‘Know your target.’ If you’re not sure, if there is any doubt, you don’t pull the trigger.”