The
carcasses of three wolves “frozen solid” were found dumped in a ditch
along a northern Minnesota highway in what conservation officials are
confident is a case of poaching, federal authorities said Thursday.
The
discovery on Hwy. 8 near Floodwood, about 35 miles southeast of Grand
Rapids, was reported on Jan. 22 to a state Department of Natural
Resources poachers tip line, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS).
“The wolf
carcasses were discovered in a pile in the ditch just off the shoulder
of the road, as though someone had driven up and dumped them off the
edge of the shoulder,” agency spokeswoman Tina Shaw said.
The gray
wolf is currently listed by the federal government as “threatened” under
the Endangered Species Act, meaning they cannot be hunted except in
defense of human life. A conviction for each violation could result in
up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $25,000.
The federal agency announced a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
The
carcasses were sent to the USFWS’s national forensics lab in Ashland,
Ore., the country’s lone crime lab for animals, Shaw said.
“There
appear to be marks from a snare on the necks of the wolves, but our
forensics scientists are currently making [a] determination” into how
the animals were killed, Shaw said.
Shaw added
that “evidence supports that the wolves were killed elsewhere and
purposely moved to this location … right on the road.”
The
federal agent investigating the killings said the animals “were frozen
solid and in perfect condition,” Shaw said. “There’s a good chance that
they were dumped there the night before they were called in.”
The USFWS
is working with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on
the case, Shaw said. Anyone with information about this case is urged to
call the DNR’s Turn in Poachers (TIP) line at 1-800-652-9093.
“We really do depend on the DNR tip line,” Shaw said.
Six
decades ago, Minnesota’s wolf population fell to a record low of 750.
However, the most recent count by the DNR put the number at upward of
2,400.
A
judge’s ruling in late 2014 reinstated Endangered Species Act
protections for gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan and
placed the animals under protection of the USFWS. They had been removed
in January 2012 from the endangered species list, which briefly allowed
for hunting seasons.
Dave
Mech, a senior research scientist in Minnesota with the federal Northern
Prairie Wildlife Research Center, points to the stable wolf population
in the state as evidence that the animal no longer needs to be listed as
threatened.
“Their
population is secure, and it’s recovered,” Mech said. “I don’t have any
reason to believe that it’s threatened or endangered in Minnesota.”
Because
wolves have been removed and then put back on the endangered species
list, landowners “who live with wolves have become more frustrated,”
Mech said. “There’s probably people who take it out on the wolves.”
Also, hunters have complained about wolves contributing to declining deer and moose populations, he added.
While
some landowners and hunters want wolves off the endangered species list,
a DNR poll in 2012 found that nearly 80 percent opposed the hunting of
wolves.
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