Bigfork man charged after killing three grizzly bears
A Bigfork man who allegedly shot and killed three grizzly bears in Ferndale last May appeared in U.S. District Court in Missoula Tuesday.
Dan Calvert Wallen is charged with three counts of unlawful taking of a threatened species, according to documents filed with the U. S. District Court. Grizzlies are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Wallen pleaded not guilty.
Court documents state that Wallen shot three grizzly bears within minutes of each other on May 27, but only one grizzly was confirmed dead that day. The other two bears were found May 28 and June 4 near Wallen’s home.
The first bear was found May 27 by a neighbor who killed the bear after it had been wounded by Wallen. According to court documents, Wallen told Fish, Wildlife and Parks game warden Chuck Bartos that the bears had been killing his chickens.
The grizzlies arrived at Wallen’s house while Wallen’s friends and family were playing outside. Three grizzlies entered the yard and headed toward Wallen’s chickens. Wallen chased the grizzlies into his neighbor’s field with his truck and returned to his house while the children went inside.
About 15 minutes later the bears returned, and again went for the chicken coop, court documents say. Wallen chased the bears away in his truck. The bears went into a nearby field and Wallen observed them for about 15 minutes.
Wallen said in court documents that he then saw two grizzlies come from behind the garage and go for the chickens. Wallen then fired his rifle to scare the bears. He took several shots and aimed in the direction of the grizzlies, but did not know if he hit the bears, court documents say.
The two bears ran off, and while Wallen was still in the driveway a third grizzly came from the highway and ran toward the chickens. Wallen fired two shots at the bear. It left after the second shot.
Wallen soon received a call from his neighbor, Clark, who told him a bear was wounded nearby, and he needed to come finish him. Wallen said he only had a .22, so Clark killed the bear with a .300 magnum, documents say.
The second dead bear was found about 50 yards from the first bear on May 28 by Tim Manley, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear biologist, as he was setting traps to catch the other two bears.
ON JUNE 4, Lynn Manning returned from a vacation to her home near Wallen’s. She was outside in the evening when she smelled something dead, according to court documents. Manning followed the smell and found a dead grizzly in thick grass near her home. She contacted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the morning, and game warden Chuck Bartos came to inspect the grizzly carcass, which was badly decomposed. Bartos took the remains to the Fish, Wildlife and Parks headquarters in Kalispell where Manley examined it and estimated the bear had been dead for about a week.
Last August, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey completed autopsies on the first two bears found.
In an interview with the Bigfork Eagle in June, Manley said three bears had been coming into the Ferndale area, eating chickens and getting into garbage cans, birdseed and dog food that hadn’t been properly stored.
He said grizzlies causing trouble in Ferndale is almost a yearly occurrence because of the good bear habitat in the area.
If convicted, Wallen faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $25,000 fine on each of the three counts of killing a threatened species.