The Department of Natural Resources is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in a suspected poaching of a gray wolf in the Eastern Upper Peninsula this winter.
On Dec. 14, 2005 a mortality signal from a radio collar was picked up from a DNR airplane doing a wildlife surveillance flight in the E.U.P. The signal was picked up around the Pickford area, according to DNR Law Enforcement Division reports. The wolf wearing the radio collar had last been seen on Nov. 29, 2005.
The following day, DNR personnel tracked the radio collar to the Munuscong River in Chippewa County. The collar was located under the ice, but not retrieved due to poor ice. No human tracks were spotted in the snow from the air, but fairly recent wolf tracks had crossed the river downstream. There was an elevated deer blind in the vicinity with a clear view of the location, DNR reports noted.
On March 7, a Michigan State Police search and dive rescue team recovered the radio collar from the river during a training exercise. The collar showed evidence of being cut off of the animal, law enforcement officials said.
Anyone with information about this incident can call the DNR's Report All Poaching Line 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 800- 292-7800. Information can be provided anonymously. The tip leading to an arrest and conviction will receive the reward.
