TROY — The reward now stands at $3,500 for information leading to a citation or arrest in the case of a bighorn sheep poached at Wenaha Wildlife Area in late January.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported in a news release the Yamhill, Josephine, Bend, Umpqua, and Rogue Valley chapters of the Oregon Hunters Association contributed $500 each to the Turn In Poachers Fund to increase the reward to $3,500.

To provide information on this case or any poaching, call the TIP line at *OSP or 800-452-7888.

Oregon State Police announced the poaching in late January after the discovery of a bighorn sheep’s severed ear and damaged GPS near Troy. The GPS collar transmitted the animal died on Sunday, Jan. 26.

The GPS tracking collar indicated the animal was dead because it had not moved for nine hours. When ODFW wildlife technician Sharon Curtis went to investigate a mortality signal from the collar, she expected to find a sheep carcass, according to the department.

Instead, she found the collar, which had been cut, and the severed ear with an intact identification tag. The ear was from an adult ram. The collar and ear were on the ground near a feeding station. Melted snow had flattened the grass, but Curtis saw where the carcass had been dragged toward the road. She also found two spots of blood and several tufts of fur below the collar. Forensics evidence indicated the animal was shot, according to Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Chris Hawkins.

Bighorn sheep are among the rarest game mammals in Oregon today, according to ODFW. About 100 people a year draw a once-in-a-lifetime bighorn sheep tag

In 2018, the most recent year for which statistics are available, ODFW reported poachers killed three bighorn sheep. Poachers likely killed more, according to the department, but either those sheep were not found or lacked evidence of a crime.

Oregon’s Stop Poaching Campaign is a collaboration among hunters, conservationists, land owners and recreationists to increase reporting of wildlife crimes through the TIP Line and protect reduce poaching.