Sizable reward offered in Ore. elk killings
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) - The reward fund is growing for the capture of whoever is responsible for killing seven trophy bull elk since last October.
The fund was more than $10,000 since last week when three elk were discovered shot.
All seven elk were shot close to roads in an area within about a three-mile radius near Glendale, said Sgt. Dean Perske of the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division office in Roseburg.
The killings began in October, when a trophy 7-by-7-point bull was killed. On July 10 or 11, three were discovered shot and left to rot.
"These aren't even poachers. This is just people going out to kill things," Perske said. "Poachers usually at least cut off the horns or take the backstraps out or something."
One of the three bulls found earlier this month was still alive, but fatally wounded, when it was discovered. The recovered meat was given to a local food pantry.
"But the other two, I mean it was 98 degrees here, and they were just like a couple of ripe melons," Perske said. "In that heat, and they were all gut shot, so they just exploded inside."
Since then, the outrage has grown and so has the reward fund.
Local landowners, the Roseburg Chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association, a couple of local businesses "and the state OHA office kicked in an extra $4,000 over the weekend," Perske told the Salem Statesman-Journal. Just before the interview with the newspaper, he said he got a call from the Josephine County chapter of the hunters association. "They said they were going to pledge $500 right now, and said they may do more," Perske said.
Investigators believe that whoever is doing the killing might because they can't get access to the animals during legal hunting season, Perske said. The elk are on mostly private land, and owners aren't giving permission to hunters.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
