A prominent Anchorage big game guide has been accused of the illegal slaughter of wolves in the Alaska Interior.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday issued a five count indictment charging Charles "Chuck" Wirschem with using an airplane to find and kill wolves in the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in March. The refuge is approximately 175 miles northwest of Fairbanks.

Investigators with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Attorney's office contend Wirschem was involved with at least two other men who used aircraft to drive and herd wolves and then shoot them.

Federal officials refused to name the other men under investigation in the case. They said more indictments are likely.

Illegal hunting of wolves in the Kanuti Refuge and the nearby Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve has been under investigation since spring. Federal agents in May served search warrants on Wirschem, then seized his Piper Supercub aircraft and 18 wolf hides in his possession.

An experienced and influential Alaska big game guide, Wirschem is known for the spring entoleter he throws for top guides and special invited guests.

This year's gathering attracted Anchorage judges, physicians, dentists, accountants, contractors, businessmen and the leadership of the Alaska Professional Hunters Association.

All of these men Wirschem's gatherings are male only affairs share a common interest in hunting Alaska big game, particularly trophy animals.

State laws allow the use of an airplane to search for wolves before landing to hunt them, but it prohibits herding them from the air. Also illegal is the use of two way radios to coordinate the efforts of airplanes, or hunters and airplanes, to kill big game.

Federal officials accuse Wirschem of violating both of those laws, as well as other federal laws prohibiting the transport or sale of illegally killed animals.

"Aircraft are a necessity here for providing transportation to hunting areas or even finding game, but that's where it stops," said R. David Purinton, special agent in charge for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage. "Using an airplane to drive or harass or tire out an animal to ensure a kill is simply prohibited by both federal and state law."

Update 1/31/91:  A federal judge fined Anchorage surgeon Jack Frost $10,000 for illegally hunting wolves from his airplane, but did not sentence him to jail.

Frost, who became a symbol for national groups trying to halt land-and-shoot wolf hunting in Alaska, pleaded guilty in May to a single misdemeanor count of airborne hunting of wolves. The government agreed to dismiss six other charges as part of the plea bargain.

In March 1989, federal agents at the Kanute National Wildlife Refuge listened to Frost and his companions coordinate wolf-hunting activities over their airplane radios. A federal wildlife agent later found tracks of wolves that had been chased and skid marks from airplane skis.

Frost eventually pleaded guilty to illegally herding wolves with an airplane.   Frost said he believes the government tried to make an example of him. He is a prominent orthopedic surgeon who regularly defended land-and-shoot hunting in public. Over three years in the mid-to late-'80s he killed 60 wolves, according to state game records.

"The government clearly wanted to prosecute a high-visibility person for wolf hunting," he said.  But he said he does not feel lucky to escape a prison term.  "I'm distressed there was ever a consideration that jail time would be considered."

A year ago, a federal magistrate rejected a similar plea bargain because it did not include jail time. U.S. Magistrate Peter Aschenbrenner said then that if Frost was guilty of airborne hunting, his sentence should include incarceration to be in line with similar cases.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Cooper told Judge Andrew Kleinfeld that other aerial wolf hunters convicted in Alaska were guilty of more serious offenses and Frost should not be compared to them. Frost's companion, Chuck Wirschem , received 15 days in jail, but he was also convicted of illegally killing a sheep in a national park.

"Overall, the public interest is very well protected by this arrangement we've reached," Cooper said.

He told the judge that Frost may have been confused by vague and conflicting state and federal laws regarding aerial hunting. In his remarks to Kleinfeld, Frost maintained he did not know that what he did was illegal.

"Given the information I had at the time, I felt what I was doing was legal," Frost said. "In retrospect I don't know how it could be done significantly differently."

Cindy Lowry, Alaska's Greenpeace representative, said she thinks Frost got off lightly. Greenpeace opposes all land-and-shoot wolf hunting, which is legal in Alaska.  "What Frost did was a heinous crime and there should have been jail time," she said. "That would finally make him own up."

In addition to the fine, the judge ordered Frost's Super Cub forfeited. He may buy it back for $20,000, far below its market value. He was also ordered to serve 24 months of unsupervised probation.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News