A man who killed two wolves in 2013 in a residential area in south Whitehorse was fined $6,500 Monday in Yukon territorial court.

Clayton Thomas, 35, also received a two-year hunting ban.

Minutes before being sentenced, the man reiterated he had done nothing wrong and was protecting his family.

Thomas, a member of the Tahltan First Nation, had argued at trial that he had inherent aboriginal rights to hunt and harvest wolves in the Whitehorse area.

Judge Donald Luther found last December that Thomas hadn’t proven the inherent aboriginal right. He convicted him of hunting wolves in an area not permitted, the careless use of a firearm and trafficking in wildlife.

Thomas plans to appeal that ruling.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, territorial Crown prosecutor Lee Kirkpatrick noted that Thomas didn’t even contact conservation officers (COs) to ask them to take care of the wolves before he went on to take care of the animals himself.

Days before the kill, a wolf ate one of his neighbour’s dog.

A number of options have to be exhausted before COs would kill wolves, she noted.

Thomas shot multiple rounds within a kilometre of homes in the Mount Sima subdivision, she said.

The court heard yesterday one bullet was found three metres under a hill. Behind that hill was a house under construction.

Thomas also used full metal jacket ammunition. Unlike soft pointed bullets, they don’t expand upon impact.

That means they pass through a target and can travel far, potentially hitting something else, Kirkpatrick said.

They’re also considered less humane because they injure animals without killing them.

Soft-pointed ammunition expands up to twice their size upon impact, causing a maximum amount of damages to the animal.

Thomas could also have reported the kills under the self-defence provision of the Wildlife Act, the prosecutor told the court.

Neither wolves were directly threatening him at the time he killed them, she added.

He also has a previous conviction for wasting meat, for which he was fined $750.

The prosecutor asked the judge for a $9,000 to $10,000 fine and a two-year hunting ban.

He is a threat to the citizens of Mount Sima, she said, and the court must deter that behaviour.

Thomas directly addressed the judge during the sentencing hearing.

He told the court he hadn’t done anything wrong, and was protecting his wife and children.

He noted he wasn’t in front of the judge for a violent offence against a person and isn’t a threat to the people of Mount Sima.

He filed a letter from a counsellor he had been seeing about the impact a search of his home by COs had on him.

The May 1, 2013 search yielded several weapons and the carcasses of the two wolves he had illegally killed.

The agreed statement of facts shed some light on how events unfolded.

“Mr. Thomas and his wife were very upset by the way in which the search was conducted,” the statement reads.

“Officers refused to remove their boots and searched in areas which Mr. Thomas felt were private and not likely to reveal any evidence related to wolf kills.”

After asking Thomas questions about how his business was working, Luther said he could achieve the goals of sentencing with a slightly smaller fine.

Thomas will have 18 months to pay the $6,500-fine. The hunting ban will continue after two years if the fine hasn’t been paid.

He can still hunt pursuant to First Nation subsistence rights, the judge said.

In exchanges between the prosecutor and Thomas, it wasn’t clear what areas the man would be permitted to hunt in. The ban only applies to the Yukon.

The judge ordered that one of the two rifles seized be returned.

During the sentencing, Tahltan elder Kusta, who was assisting Thomas, reiterated that he was within his aboriginal rights.

“We’re not going to re-litigate that,” the judge told him.

He said his decision is final, and can be appealed.

When Luther ruled Thomas hadn’t proved his aboriginal rights in December 2015, the man told the Star he had to prove the impossible: demonstrate evidence of his ancestors being in the Whitehorse area some 200 years ago.

For Thomas, the issue is also about the territorial government not dealing with wolves.

He accused the government of hiding behind the self-defence provision, the only one that allows individuals to shoot wolves in such situations.

“They’ll spend all the time in the world to go through your house, and prosecute the hell out of you,” he said.

“They’re telling me I don’t have the right to protect my kids and wife.”

He has 30 days to file an appeal to Yukon Supreme Court.