The government and a conservation group both are offering reward money for help find whoever killed a federally protected gray wolf in South-Central Oregon.
The wolf, a radio-collared 3-year-old female known as OR-28, was found dead on Oct. 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.
It’s a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act to kill a gray wolf, which is listed as endangered in the western two-thirds of Oregon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Oregon State Police are investigating.
The federal government announced Friday it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The Center for Biological Diversity announced within a few hoursit was adding $10,000 of reward money, bringing the total to $15,000.
All three parties have requested that anyone with information about the case call either at 503-682-6131 (U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife) or 800-452-7888 (Oregon State Police).
OR-28 was initially a member of the Mt. Emily Pack in northeastern Oregon’s Umatilla County. She was fitted with a tracking collar in 2014. The following year, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife determined she had dispersed to south-Central Oregon’s Klamath and Lake counties.
OR-28 paired with a male wolf, OR-3 and were thought to have produced at least one pup, fish and wildlife officials determined in July. They were dubbed the Silver Lake wolves. They were not been designated as a pack because that would require evidence of at least four wolves traveling together in winter.
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