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Idaho Fish and Game

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Information Sought in Panhandle Grizzly Bear Shooting, reward available

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A $5,000 reward is offered for information that leads to an arrest

An adult female grizzly bear was shot and killed near Spruce Lake in northern Boundary County over Labor Day weekend. Grizzly bears are protected by both state and federal law and the loss of a breeding female is a major setback to the great bear’s recovery in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem. If you have any information concerning this poaching, please contact: Senior Conservation Officer Brian Johnson – (208) 267-4085.

Citizens Against Poaching and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are each offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest, or a criminal conviction of the person(s) responsible for the killing of the collared grizzly bear. 

After receiving a mortality signal from the bear’s collar, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers and Fish and Wildlife service biologists found the bear’s carcass near Spruce Lake on September 9, 2018. The radio collar data indicated that the mortality signal was set off on September 4.

The carcass was delivered to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Lab, which determined the grizzly was shot. The grizzly was a 15-year-old female that was collared by the Service in the same general area on September 18, 2017. No additional details are being released at this time because it is an open investigation.