By John Tunison
UPPER PENINSULA — State conservation officers are looking for the public’s help in solving two cases of wolf poaching.
Authorities with the state Department of Natural Resources say wolves were poached in late November in separate cases in Mackinac and Schoolcraft counties.
Officers on Nov. 26 found a dead wolf near the Mackinac and Luce county lines, not far from M-117 near Newberry.
The carcass was located near County Road 468 in Lakefield Township. A forensic exam showed the wolf died of gunshot wound and officers believe it was killed at another location, transported in a vehicle and dumped near the county road.
In the second case, officers say a wolf in a wildlife study was killed and its tracking collar removed. The wolf was poached in Schoolcraft County near Gulliver.
Officers found evidence of the poaching the same day the other wolf was poached — Nov. 26.
The DNR is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of persons involved in the poachings.
Anyone with information about the killings can call the state’s’ Report All Poaching Hotline at 800-292-7800 or contact their local DNR office.
Callers can make an anonymous report, if necessary.
Police say the maximum penalty for wolf poaching is 90 days jail, a $1,000 fine and reimbursement of $1,500 for the animal.
DNR seeks tips in two wolf poaching cases in Mackinac and Schoolcraft
counties; reward offered
More information about Michigan’s wolf population is at michigan.gov/wolves