The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward and asking the public for information regarding the illegal shooting of a trumpeter swan on Oct. 22, 2006 in Juneau County, Wisconsin. A reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for the killing.
The swan was killed in the early morning hours of Oct. 22, within the boundary of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge on the Suk-Cerney flowage. A nearby waterfowl hunter observed two men shoot several rounds at a flock of trumpeter swans. One of the swans was killed. The two hunters then fled the area in a brown king-cab pickup truck.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking anyone with information about this killing to contact either Refuge Law Enforcement Officer Jim Hjelmgren at 608-343-0148 or Special Agent Gary Jagodzinski at 608-783-8420.
Trumpeter swans are listed as an endangered species by the State of Wisconsin and federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
