The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is now offering a reward up to $1,000 for the arrest of people involved in the poisoning of animals in Marinette, Bayfield and Florence counties.
Dog deaths have occurred in Bayfield, Marinette and Florence Counties.
The deaths occurred on public properties in these counties managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Goodman Timber Company.
DNR Regional Conservation Warden Dave Zebro says they haven't had much public feedback since the original call for information went out several days ago..
"..We're hoping this reward system will engage some people and maybe motivate people to call. We've been investigating this for a number of weeks. We've had conservation wardens on the ground looking for additional bait sites or poisoning sites. We have not found any of those since the department sent out a news release a week ago, we've not had anything really credible..."
Zebro describes what they found.
"...Some sites have what looks like hamburger, other sites have what looks like mixed meats in there. Unfortunately there's been a series of dead animals. We've had raccoons, we've had coyotes, we had a weasel, all within close proximity...."
Besides several dogs found dead, one dead wolf was also found. What the highly toxic poison is is still being determined. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service asks anyone with information about the recent wildlife and dog deaths to contact the Service Office of Law Enforcement in Madison.(608-221-1206.)
