A former Salmon resident now living in Montana has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of trying to kill endangered gray wolves with poisoned meatballs.

Timothy B. Sundles, 48, signed a plea agreement last week admitting his activity.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams is scheduled to take the plea and sentence Sundles on March 1 in Pocatello.  He faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.

According to the plea agreement, on February 19, 2004, Sundles placed numerous meatballs containing aldicarb in the Wagonhammer Creek drainage on the Salmon National Forest near North Fork.  Aldicarb is a poisonous pesticide sold under the name Temik.

No dead or injured wolves were found, but several other animals were injured or killed by the poisoned meat, including a coyote, a fox, several magpies and three domestic dogs. 

Prosecutors are expected to ask at sentencing that Sundles spend 30 days in jail, be banned from public lands for two years, and pay veterinary bills of $128.90 for treatment of the dogs.

The gray wolf is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.  The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.