There’s A $10,000 Reward Being Offered To Whoever Can Help Catch The Killer Of This Endangered Gray Wolf
After an endangered gray wolf was killed illegally in Oregon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that they are offering a $10,000 reward for any information about who was responsible for the wolf’s death. The male gray wolf was in Morrow County, Oregon. He wore a radio collar and was known as OR-159 to researchers.
OR-159 was found dead on private property approximately 20 miles south of Heppner, Oregon. The property was west of Highway 395, where gray wolves are both state and federally protected.
In Oregon, killing gray wolves is a Class C Felony. It is illegal to hunt, poison, or harm the wolves in any way. As a result, the number of wolves in Oregon has grown since 2009. Still, their population is nowhere near the size it was in the 1800s.
In 2009, there were 14 gray wolves in Oregon, consisting of two packs and one breeding pair. Every year afterward, the wolf population in Oregon went up due to state protection and collaboration with ranchers to reimburse them for any livestock that was lost to the wolves.
As of 2023, there were 178 wolves across the state. They included 22 packs and 15 breeding pairs. However, 2022 to 2023 was the first year that population growth did not occur.
This is largely because of the “wolf-kill orders” that were issued in 2022. The orders allowed livestock owners to kill wolves that bothered their animals.
In 2022, the number of wolves killed was the highest on record since the wolf recovery process began in the late 2000s. Since 2012, a total of 44 wolves have been illegally poached.
If poaching continues, all the progress that gray wolves have made can be easily derailed, especially if any breeding pairs become victims.
Wolf killings increased significantly in 2023. Some of them were deemed appropriate by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for injuring livestock. But when these kinds of exceptions are granted, they can lead to more cases of poaching.
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For instance, in December 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered a reward of $5,000 for the illegal killing of a male gray wolf named OR-125. The wolf was found dead near Union Creek, Oregon.
And then, in February 2023, the Service offered a $50,000 reward after three wolves were illegally killed in southern Oregon.
They were all from the same pack, and two of them wore collars. One was a breeding female, so her death left the pack’s future at risk.
Even though gray wolves are federally protected in most of Oregon, these killings show that they are still not safe from dying out.
Those who have information about the death of OR-159 can contact the Service at (503) 682-6131. All callers may remain anonymous.
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