Environmental agencies and advocacy groups are offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction in the death of a Mexican gray wolf that wildlife authorities were following near Flagstaff.
Arizona Game and Fish collared the female wolf this summer near Flagstaff and she was named Hope by a group of students. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says she was found dead near a Forest Service road northwest of Flagstaff on Nov. 7.
Cyndi Tuell is with the Western Watershed Project.
“We’re not sure how many wolves may or may not be north of I-40 in the Flagstaff area, we did know Hope was there because Arizona Game and Fish had collared her and she was wearing this very bright obvious collar when she was killed,” she said.
The population of Mexican gray wolves in the U.S. had dwindled to just seven in the 1970s before recovery efforts began. That number has since climbed to more than 250 in Arizona and New Mexico. But Tuell says every death sets that effort back. Killing a Mexican gray wolf is illegal under federal law because of its endangered status.
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