$10K reward offered for killer of rare Yellowstone wolf

FILE - In this April 6, 2016, file photo provided by the Yellowstone National Park Service, a white wolf walks in Yellowstone National Park, in Wyo. A wolf advocacy group has doubled the reward for information leading to whoever shot a similar rare white wolf found inside Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone officials euthanized the severely injured wolf after hikers found the animal near Gardiner, Montana, on April 11, 2017. The park offered a $5,000 reward Thursday for information leading to a conviction after announcing a preliminary necropsy finding that the wolf had been shot. (Neal Herbert/Yellowstone National Park via AP) FILE - In this April 6, 2016, file photo provided by the Yellowstone National Park Service, a white wolf walks in Yellowstone National Park, in Wyo. A wolf advocacy group has doubled the reward for information leading to whoever shot a similar rare white wolf found inside Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone officials euthanized the severely injured wolf after hikers found the animal near Gardiner, Montana, on April 11, 2017. The park offered a $5,000 reward Thursday for information leading to a conviction after announcing a preliminary necropsy finding that the wolf had been shot. (Neal Herbert/Yellowstone National Park via AP)

By Associated Press May 12, 2017 3 min read

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – The reward for information leading to whoever shot a rare white wolf found inside Yellowstone National Park rose to $10,000 on Friday after a wolf advocacy group matched a $5,000 reward offered earlier by the park.

Yellowstone officials euthanized the severely injured wolf after hikers found the animal suffering in the northern edge of the park, near Gardiner, Montana, on April 11. The 12-year-old wolf that was killed was the alpha female of a group of wolves dubbed the Canyon Pack and a popular target of photographers.

The park offered a $5,000 reward Thursday for information leading to a conviction after announcing a preliminary necropsy finding that the wolf had been shot.

The Montana group Wolves of the Rockies followed up with its own $5,000 reward.

Park officials have not said whether they have leads in their investigation into who killed the wolf, but Wolves of the Rockies President Marc Cook speculated the wolf’s killer was someone angry about the reintroduction of wolves to the park more than two decades ago.