Justice Must Be Done For Big Game Guide Of Illegally Killing Wolves

Sir, Mr David Haeg, a big-game guide,pilot.Lives in the Soldotna area. Mr Tony Zellers, the gunner comes from Eagle River. They are part of the state-sponsored wolf control programme near the McGrath area. The investigation in Mr David Haeg stemmed from March 2004 in the area of Swift, Stony and Big rivers. The Alaska state troops found that Mr David Haeg has killed 9 wolves outside of the boundaries designated whilst airborne and then falsely reported the location of the killings to state wildlife officials who had hired him to kill in the designated zone only. Mr David Haeg was ordered to forfeit his guiding license for five years. Was also sentenced to 35 days in jail, fined $6,000 and ordered to forfeit his plane to the government. But those and other penalties, everything except the loss of his license  have been put on hold by the court pending an appeal. A McGrath jury in July found Haeg guilty of five counts of knowingly taken 9 wolves the same day whilst he was airborne, 2 counts of unlawful possession of illegally taken game, one count of unsworn falsification and one count of trapping wolverines during a closed season. The total sentence handed down this week was 570 days with 535 suspended and a $19,500  fine with $13,500 suspended. Haeg was also placed on probation for seven years and ordered to pay $4,500 for the illegally taken the wolves. He have to turn over the hides of the animals, the guns used to kill them and the airplane involved. If Mr Haeg wins his appeal, the sentence would be a travesty. Please see that justice is done and Mr David Haeg should be sentenced for his serious offences as we feel he has abused the  wolf-control programme and must not be allowed to happen again.