$4,500 In Rewards Offered For Tips On Bear Poacher

The Selkirk-Priest Basin Association this week added $1,000 to the reward for tips that solve a North Idaho grizzly bear poaching case.

Combined rewards of up to $4,500 being offered for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for killing a grizzly in the Selkirk Mountains northwest of Bonners Ferry in May. The carcass of the 95-pound yearling female grizzly was found concealed in brush along a Forest Service road after the spring black bear hunting season, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents said.

The grizzly is federally protected as a threatened species.

A Spokane County man convicted of illegally killing a grizzly last year in northeastern Washington recently was fined $21,000 - a fine that was unusually steep because he didn’t report the killing to wildlife authorities, the judge said.

Federal and state and private hunting and conservation groups are offering rewards for tips that help convict the grizzly poachers. Informants can remain anonymous, said Roger Parker, Fish and Wildlife Service agent.

To report confidential information on this case, call Parker in Spokane, 928-6050, or Idaho Fish and Game Department agent Greg Johnson, (208) 267-7629.

The latest addition to the rewards comes from pledges made by the SPBA’s 450 members, said president Chris Bessler.

“We want to maintain full complement of wildlife within the basin,” he said, noting that females in particular are critical for the survival of the 10-30 grizzlies roaming into the Idaho Selkirks.

“Thirteen grizzlies have died in the Selkirks since 1983, and 10 were at the hands of poachers or hunters,” Bessler said.

, DataTimes