Feds, Conservationists Offer Reward for Oregon Wolf Killer

PORTLAND, Oregon, August 17, 2007 (ENS) – Two conservation groups have sweetened the pot for anyone who has information about the illegal shooting of a female endangered gray wolf in eastern Oregon last October.

Oregon Wild and the Center for Biological Diversity Thursday offered a $4,000 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of the crime.

The fund is in addition to $5,000 that has been offered as a reward by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The animal was found dead in early October between Battle Mountain and Whittaker Flats along Oregon Highway 395 near Ukiah, Oregon.

Tests, recently completed at the agency’s national forensics laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, confirmed that it was a wolf and that it was killed by a bullet from a high velocity rifle.

Tests on the contents of the wolf’s stomach show that it had not been feeding on livestock.

Further DNA testing is planned to determine if it was an offspring of the wolves reintroduced into Idaho.

Ed Bangs, Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator, said that illegal killings this past year are a primary factor in not meeting the agency’s goal of 30 wolf packs in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

Achieving 30 packs would start the three year countdown to removing the gray wolf from its federally protected status, he said.

Anyone with information about the wolf’s death can call Special Agent Jim Stinebaugh, 503-682-6131, or Senior Trooper Darren Chandler, 541-963-7175.

“The killing of endangered wildlife like this wolf is a crime against Oregon’s children,” said Steve Pedery, conservation director of Oregon Wild. “Wolves are the icons of American wilderness, and we hope this reward will produce information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever committed this crime.”

Since their reintroduction to the northern Rockies in 1994, wolf populations have recovered in the northern Rockies. The animals have been slowly making their way back into Oregon, with a total of six confirmed and many unconfirmed sightings documented in the past 10 years.

In response, the state of Oregon completed a wolf management plan in 2005, which sets a goal of eight packs split between eastern and western Oregon.

“Wolves are an integral part of the web of life in the American West,” said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “With continued legal protection from poaching and preservation of Oregon’s wildlands, this majestic animal could once again thrive in our state.”

Once common in Oregon, wolves were eradicated from the state by the 1940s as part of a concerted effort to shoot, trap or poison every wolf in the western United States.

In 1974, wolves were protected as an endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act, and today killing a wolf is a federal crime.

The law provides for criminal penalties of up to $100,000 plus a year in jail for a single offense, and Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement agents say they will “aggressively pursue the investigation” of this wolf’s death.

“The impact of this illegal killing is deep. Everyone involved has made tremendous compromises to enable rural citizens and wolves to coexist,” said Suzanne Laverty, Northwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife.

“Where wolves have been restored in the American West, they’re demonstrating a beneficial role in local ecosystems and disproving all the old myths,” she said. “When folks give them a chance, they learn wolves aren’t really ‘big and bad’ like in fairy tales.”

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007

8 thoughts on “Feds, Conservationists Offer Reward for Oregon Wolf Killer

  1. WHY DON’T THEY GET REAL WITH THE REWARD MONEY? Do you really think that anybody is gonna turn in those responsible for chump change. Hell the conservation groups make millions off of the wolves in fundraising and then offer 5,000 dollars reward? Real commitment!

  2. John,

    You’re probably right. I don’t know how much it would take, however.

    I don’t think the reward money has ever trapped a wolf killer, although it has for other animals. Someone please correct me, if I am wrong.

    Most if those caught were tracked down because they couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

  3. I don’t think 5 grand is chump change. A higher bounty might be counterproductive. I don’t know how they would conduct the investigation once someone is fingered. Maybe a tip could be kept anonymous and the violator could be convicted. Or not. It’s a tough call. Once someone is convicted what’s the penalty? That’s the more important figure. The total bounty is actually 9,000 anyway with the Oregon Wild additional funds.

  4. Steve,

    The wolf remains a fully endangered species in Oregon for the time being, although the delisting proposal would change that in eastern Oregon.

  5. So, I have a couple questions. How is it poaching if the body, hide and meat and tail, are all still intact. Sounds like someone was intimidated or threatened by the wolf and shot it. Or some idiot just picked if off. Hard to say in my opinion. However, what if one is threatened by this very large predator? In packs, these animals have no fear.
    Does a human have the right to defend thier life from predators such as these large timber wolves or Bears etc…??

  6. TJ,

    Poaching in the generic sense usually entails the illegal “taking” of wildlife, fish or plants. Doesn’t matter if the remains were exploited. Not sure of the technical legal definition. In this case I think its use was appropriate.

    There is no evidence the individual who did this was doing so as an act of self-defense. I would tend to think he/she doesn’t like wolves and the opportunity presented itself (or, the wolf was misidentified as a coyote prior to pulling trigger).

    Yes, someone does have the right of self-defense if (in the unlikely event) they are attacked by a large predator.

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