Authorities are investigating the killing of a 2-year-old wolf they say was shot in a wilderness area of Baker County.
The wolf, known as OR 112, was a collared female member of the Keating wolf pack and had been roaming through the Pine Creek Wildlife Management area according the Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Division.
OSP says the wolf was likely shot the morning of Aug. 4. The body was found along the embankment of Forest Road 66, about seven miles north of Halfway.
“Could we possibly just go a year in Oregon, or even a few months, without another wolf being illegally killed?” said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “This tragic death is part of a sad pattern of unbridled violence that’s being inflicted on wolves in our state.”
This undated photo released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a dispersing wolf from the Oregon Pack OR-54. A two-year-old wolf was shot to death in Baker County, according to the Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Division.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife / AP
Oregon’s wolf population was reintroduced in 2009 and has been growing. But wildlife advocates say they’ve seen a rising number of poaching cases across the Pacific Northwest. Wolves are also sometimes killed after attacking livestock. In 2021, state authorities investigated the poisoning of eight wolves in Eastern Oregon.
According to state records, nearly 30 wolves have been illegally killed in the last 20 years.
The Oregon Wildlife Coalition is offering an $11,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution in this case.