2 Convicted in Killings of Big Game : Animals: Couple led close-range hunts of endangered big cats imported to their ranch. It was the first such prosecution in the state.

A Monterey County Municipal Court jury Tuesday found a husband and wife guilty of guiding hunts for tigers and other big cats on their ranch, in the first prosecution of such a case in California.

The jury found Floyd Lester Patterson guilty of all 35 counts against him, and his wife, Dawn, guilty of all seven counts naming her in connection with the killing of eight big cats between May and July, 1990.

Municipal Court Judge Alan Hedegard, who presided over the case in the Monterey County town of King City, set sentencing for Aug. 2.

Floyd Patterson, 35, could be fined $40,000 and sentenced to eight years in prison at most, said the Pattersons’ attorney, I. Singh Aulakh. Dawn Patterson, 31, faces a sentence of 1 1/2 years in jail.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Russell Scott said animal rights activists and champions of threatened species will view this as an important decision that protects endangered species.

Scott also predicted that “legitimate sports hunters will be pleased with the outcome simply because the case did not involve hunting.”

The Pattersons led wealthy shooters on so-called hunts involving two Bengal tigers, a black jaguar, a spotted leopard, two mountain lions and other cats. Some of the animals were aging and so tame that they refused to leave their cages, where they were shot at close range.

The Pattersons bought the animals for about $18,000 from an exotic-animal dealer in Arizona and charged clients $3,000 and up for the hunts. The hunts included meals and lodging at the Pattersons’ 4,000-acre spread in the hilly country of southeastern Monterey County.

The Pattersons were convicted of various charges involving transporting, confining and releasing the animals, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. They were also charged with possessing and selling their body parts. In addition, they violated state law by leading the hunts of mountain lions.

Scott said the case, which resulted from an investigation led by the state Fish and Game Department, is the first in California involving organized hunts of endangered species. Other cases have been prosecuted recently in Texas and Oklahoma.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is continuing to investigate the source of the animals, said John Foster, the state game warden who led the investigation in Monterey County.