Officials Determine Montana Man Didn’t Run Down Wolves

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana wildlife officials have dropped their investigation after finding no merit to a Missoula man's Internet brag that he ran down a pair of wolves on purpose.

Toby Bridges posted on Facebook last month that he accelerated his wife's van near the Idaho-Montana border to intentionally hit a group of wolves that ran across Interstate 90. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks started an investigation, with officials saying harassing or intentionally killing wildlife with a vehicle is illegal.

Agency officials said Friday the carcass investigators found was too decomposed to have died at the time Bridges said he struck the wolf, and there was no evidence of a collision on the roadway or on Bridges' vehicle. They also could find no sign of a second wolf Bridges claimed to hit and injure.