Federal officials announced a $2,500 reward for information related to the fatal shooting of one of the first gray wolves to be spotted in California in almost a century.
Dubbed OR-59, the wolf didn’t spend more than a few days in California before being gunned down in December 2018 along Road 91 in Modoc County.
Pam Bierce, Public Affairs Officer, with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in Sacramento said this is known because a GPS collar was tracking the wolf’s movements.
Extinct since 1924, the endangered gray wolf is making a slow comeback in California, as individuals and small packs wander south from Oregon.
“Other wolves have been sighted in different areas, there were, in Lassen County and places like that. They roam down in and roam back up.” Bierce said.
The animal was felled with a .22 caliber centerfire jacketed bullet.
Protected under the Endangered Species Act, killing a gray wolf can result in as much as a year in jail and $100,000 fine.
An apex predator, wolves are seen as a key part of wild ecosystems, but are also despised by ranchers who see them as a danger to their livestock.
Anyone with information is asked to call Fish & Wildlife’s law enforcement division at 916-569-8444.