U.S. Fish and Wildlife offers reward for wolf kill information

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Nov. 6 press release announced that it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or a criminal conviction in the killing a federally protected gray wolf in south-central Oregon. On Oct. 29, 2017, a radio-collared male gray wolf known as OR-25 was found dead near Fort Klamath on Sun Pass State Forest. The wolf was collared as a yearling on May 20, 2014, and dispersed from the Imnaha pack in northeastern Oregon in March 2015. The Oregon State Police (OSP) and the USFWS are investigating. In a different case, on Oct. 27, an OSP Fish and Wildlife trooper and an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) biologist responded to an elk hunter, who self-reported shooting a wolf in Union County. The hunter told the trooper the wolf ran towards him and he shot in self-defense. The wolf was seized and later released to ODFW for examination. The Union County District Attorney’s Office was consulted, and based upon the available evidence the case will not be prosecuted.