PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the deaths of three gray wolves found in southern Oregon, offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction.
On Dec. 29, 2023, the collars of two gray wolves showed "mortality" signals. Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division troopers and an ODFW biologist found two dead, collared wolves, as well as another dead wolf without a collar. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the deaths occurred in an area of known wolf territory, which stretches across Klamath and Lake counties.
One of the collared wolves was an adult, breeding female. They were part of the Gearhart Mountain Pack. Seven wolves remain in the Gearhart Mountain pack, including a breeding male, ODFW said.
Officials did not release details on how the wolves died but said there's a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest, a criminal conviction or civil penalty assessment.
In 2022, 24 wolves were killed in Oregon, 17 of them by humans. Of those, six were killed after repeated attacks on livestock — some by the state itself and others by ranchers with kill permits. Another seven were killed illegally.
Gray wolves used to roam all over the West, but after a century of bounty programs, the predators were extirpated from much of their native range in the mid-1900s. When wolves first returned to Oregon, federal Endangered Species Act protections prohibited killing them for any reason. Those protections were lifted in 2011, and wolves came under management by the state, which said wolves can only be killed in certain scenarios.
The collars include GPS that allow ODFW to track wolves and push notifications that can help protect livestock.
The most recent wolf count in Oregon put the minimum number of wolves at 178 animals living in two dozen packs, though the state cautions that those are only wolves that can be confirmed, and the actual number is likely higher.
Anyone with information can call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 503-682-6131, or the Oregon State Police Dispatch at (800) 452-7888, *OSP (*677) or email TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Callers may remain anonymous.
This is the highest reward in the state’s history for tips in gray wolf killings, according to The Oregonian.