Reward offered in 2006 lynx slaying

Last year a lynx was discovered dead in late December. New information has come to public light in an announcement about the killing and its heinous circumstances. You can find this article on the Lewiston Sun Journal's website here.

Authorities probe killing of lynx
Thursday, February 8, 2007
PORTLAND (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the shooting death of a Canada lynx in northwest Maine last year.

The carcass was recovered Dec. 20 near Third Musquacook Lake in Township 11, Range 11, but wildlife agents believe the animal was shot several days or weeks earlier and traveled some distance before dying, officials said Wednesday.

The shot amputated one of the lynx's rear legs and the animal eventually starved to death, said Special Agent Robert Rothe.

The male lynx was equipped in 2000 with a radio collar as part of a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife study.

The lynx is listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. The federal penalty for killing a lynx is a jail sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to $25,000.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the shooting.

[Source]

The lynx has been a bone of contention in Maine. Just last September, the Animal Protection Institute filed a lawsuit against the state of Maine in an attempt to end trapping practices that they view as violations of the Endangered Species Act, which protects the lynx. Read the API press release here.