It’s the canine crime of the century: A wolf was murdered by gunshot, tied to a concrete weight and dumped in a lake. Killing a wolf is a crime, and German wildlife groups are appealing for help to find the murderer.
A €7,000 ($8,100) reward has been offered for information that leads to the arrest of a wolf killer, the German Organization for the Protection of Wolves announced on Wednesday.
The reward is tied to the killing of a 1-year-old wolf in Saxony, whose body had been found on June 10 floating in a lake near the city of Bautzen.
An examination of the wolf’s corpse by a Berlin wildlife research institute found that the young female had been fatally shot in the chest and then had a rope tied around her stomach that was lashed to a concrete weight.
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“This once again proves that a wolf is not a beast; man is,” said Brigitte Sommer, the chairwoman of the German Organization for the Protection of Wolves.
The reward was issued by Sommer’s organization along with the district of Bautzen and a Facebook group called, “Wolves: Yes, Please.”
“Seven thousand euros should help loosen the tongues of anyone who knows anything,” Sommer added.
Wolves are protected by EU and German law, and killing them is a crime. Bautzen’s district administrator declared the killing a crime, and Saxony’s State Criminal Police Office is investigating.
According to German law, punishment for killing a wild wolf includes a monetary fine in the thousands of euros or, in certain cases, up to five years in prison.
According to the Wolves in Saxony wildlife group, eight illegal wolf deaths have been identified in the state since 2009.
The wolf population in Germany has been the subject of national debate, with politicians and interest groups split over how to best manage their increasing numbers.