SEATTLE— The Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering rewards totaling $20,000 apiece for information leading to arrests and convictions following three separate killings of endangered wolves in Klickitat and Okanogan counties in Washington. The latest killing was announced on Friday.

“I’m so saddened by the illegal killings of yet more Washington wolves, which add to the enormous spike in human-caused wolf mortality here in recent years,” said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at the Center. “These beautiful animals didn’t deserve to die this way, and whoever killed them should face the full force of the law.”

The Center today announced a $10,000 reward each for information leading to an arrest and conviction for the illegal killings of:

• an adult male gray wolf in late September or early October 2024, east of the Klickitat River near U.S. Highway 142 and Goldendale in Klickitat County;
• an adult female gray wolf discovered southwest of Twisp in Okanogan County on Oct. 20, 2024; and
• an adult male gray wolf in Klickitat County near Trout Lake around Dec. 17.

Since these three wolves were each killed in a part of the state where wolves are still federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, the Service also has offered a $10,000 reward in each case.

The first two poaching incidents were publicly reported Oct. 28, 2024, by the Service and the third and most recent poaching incident was reported Friday by the Service.

In the past two years alone, since 2022, at least 22 wolves are known or suspected to have been poached across the state, including these three most recent killings. Scientific research has shown that for every illegally slain wolf found, another one to two wolves have been killed and remain undiscovered.

Investigations are being conducted jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Anyone with information regarding any of these cases is urged to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service using the FWS TIPS line at 1-844-FWS-TIPS (1-844-397-8477) or https://www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips, or call WDFW at 1-877-933-9487 or send an email to [email protected]. Callers may remain anonymous.