LINCOLN PLANTATION — The Maine Warden Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigators are offering a reward of up to $5,500 for information on the illegal killings of two Canada lynx in northern Oxford and Aroostook counties.
In a news release, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife announced Canada lynx shootings occurred on Nov. 15 and Nov. 17: one near Aziscohos Lake in northern Oxford County, and another near Portage Lake in Aroostook County.
The release said Canada lynx are a threatened species under the Federal Endangered Species Act, and killing one “carries a maximum fine of up to $100,000, and/or imprisonment up to one year.”
On or around Nov. 15, the Maine Warden Service received a report that a Canada lynx had been shot and killed on a logging road connected to Parmachenee Road on the New Hampshire/Maine border near Aziscohos Lake.
According to the release, the animal was shot and killed with a rifle and was “wearing a GPS radio collar that was affixed by IFW wildlife biologists in 2015 as part of an ongoing IFW lynx study.”
Two days later, a Canada lynx was found dead alongside a logging road that connects the Hewes Brook Road and the Wilderness Island Road, west of Portage Lake in Aroostook County.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife estimate that Canada lynx are increasing in population, which has caused them to expand their range throughout Maine, according to the release.
According to a 2006 Canada lynx population survey by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, their population is between 750 and 1,000 in northern Maine.
Anyone with information about either incident can call Maine Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US (207-287-6057) and leave an anonymous message, or call Public Safety Dispatch in Bangor at 1-800-432-7381 (207-973-3700).
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