PORTLAND, Maine — Editor's note: The video attached to this story was published on April 26, 2022.
The Maine Warden Service announced Friday an increase in the reward for information about an illegally killed black bear that was found dumped off a bridge in Lagrange.
Operation Game Thief, a nonprofit that partners with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, has doubled the original reward from $2,000 to $4,000 for information that aids the investigation. OGT is a private organization that works to pay rewards to citizens who turn in poachers, according to its website.
The Maine Warden Service responded to a complaint about the discovery of a dead bear on April 26. The bear was found dumped in the Dead River with a gunshot wound.
"This bear was senselessly killed and left for dead, and this will not stand," Maine OGT Chairman Greg Sirpis said in a news release issued April 26.
The Maine Warden Service asks that anyone with information about the bear call the confidential Operation Game Thief tip line at 1-800-ALERT-US.