An Eastern Oregon man who accidentally shot a protected wolf near Prairie City may be able to take solace in the outcome of a nearly identical case last year in Washington state.

On Oct. 12, 2014, 38-year-old Jonathan Rasmussen notified state authorities that he had accidentally shot a wolf in a farm field southwest of Pullman, Wash. Wolves in Washington state are protected under the state Endangered Species Act.

Rasmussen was initially charged with taking a state endangered species, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Whitman County, Wash., district attorney Denis Tracy had a tough choice to make, whether to prosecute Rasmussen to the maximum extent of the law — which would be legally correct but patently unfair — or seek a more even-handed outcome.

He chose the latter, and in September of this year reached an agreement with Rasmussen’s lawyer in which the hunter would forfeit his rifle and pay $100 in court costs and vow to commit no further game violations for six months.

Short of dropping the case altogether, this was about the best conclusion that could have been reached.

Fast forward to last week in Oregon.

Brennon D. Witty, 25, was charged with killing an endangered species after he accidentally shot a wolf on private property south of Prairie City. He was also charged with hunting with a centerfire rifle without a big game tag, Harney County District Attorney Tim Colahan said. He is handling the case because the district attorney in Grant County, where the accident happened, knew the defendant’s family.

Each charge is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.

Witty notified authorities immediately and told them he had been hunting coyotes and accidentally shot the wolf.

The similarities between the facts of these two cases are striking, and the outcomes should be, too.

The federal Endangered Species Act and its state counterparts were written in an effort to bring species back from the brink of extinction. Wolves are not teetering near extinction, or anywhere close to it. Tens of thousands of wolves live in Canada and Alaska and hundreds live in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming after they were transplanted there and multiplied in number.

Now wolves are spilling into Washington state, Oregon and Northern California. Any wildlife biologist would agree that wolves are thriving in the Northwest. Their numbers are increasing, as are the number of breeding pairs. The loss of one or two wolves to accidents in no way endangers them.

The idea that someone who accidentally shoots a wolf and then notifies the authorities of his mistake should be criminally prosecuted completely misses the purpose of the state and federal laws, which are targeted at those who kill endangered species on purpose.

It is common for those who commit a crime and then cooperate with authorities to get lighter sentences.

In light of the realities of the wolf populations in the Northwest and the fact that sometimes people make mistakes, prosecutors would best serve the public by making sure the punishment matches the crime.

In these cases, the lighter the sentence, the better.