Wildlife Department investigating deaths of two endangered wolves, offering $10K reward

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is investigating the illegal killing of two federally listed endangered gray wolves, offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest, a criminal conviction or a civil penalty assessment per each case.

The dead wolves were found in Klickitat and Okanogan County.

More local news involving animals: Child dragged underwater in Bremerton aquatic animal attack

The first wolf was found dead Oct. 6 in Klickitat County, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a news release. The body was discovered east of the Klickitat River near U.S. Highway 142 and Goldendale, officials said.

Then, two weeks later on Oct. 20, the body of a female adult wolf was found southwest of Twisp in Okanogan County, in northern Washington.

Gray wolves are endangered throughout Washington, but on the west side of the state, wolves are listed as federally endangered. But in Eastern Washington, where a much larger population of wolves exists, they were delisted federally and are now only listed as endangered at the state level.

“Functionally, they are managed pretty much the same on both sides of the state except that lethal removals aren’t allowed under federal management, whereas we utilize it in Eastern Washington when there is a pattern of depredations on livestock,” FWS told MyNorthwest.

More local news involving animals: Authorities advise ‘hazing’ to scare coyotes after Queen Anne dog attacked

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), gray wolves have been listed as endangered under state law since 1980.

WDFW encourages anyone who might have relevant information on poaching to report it. This can be done confidentially by calling WDFW’s poaching hotline, (877) 933-9847, or by texting a tip to 847411.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.