The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are investigating the illegal killing of endangered birds on the Arkansas River this summer.
The service announced Wednesday in a news release the discovery of "several" dead interior least terns on an island in the Arkansas River and offered an $8,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the killings.
The service is offering the reward along with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust.
Tom MacKenzie, a spokesman for the service, said the bird has been the beneficiary of recent efforts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to preserve habitats during Corps activities along the Lower Mississippi River. He said the service recently recognized the Corps for its work in creating and preserving shorelines and islands along the river where the birds nest.
"We've done lots of work with the Corps of Engineers quite recently, actually, to enhance areas for the nesting capabilities. ... Our goal is to get [the birds] removed from the Endangered Species Act," MacKenzie said.
The exact number of birds killed was not being released because, if undisclosed, it could be of use to investigators, MacKenzie said.
The service said the dead birds were found in late June on an island in the river. Several spent shotgun shells and broken bird eggs were also seen on the island.
Earlier that month, researchers discovered 50 adult birds living on the island, where there were two nests in use. The researchers believed the animals were "re-nesting" after a flood in the area June 12 had "swamped" the island, said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Game and Fish Commission.
Stephens said an Arkansas Tech University graduate student who has been studying the colony found the dead birds last month. He said the birds were located on an island just south of the David D. Terry Lock and Dam south of Little Rock.
Stephens said the shooting was likely not an accident and that whoever killed the birds had gone onto the island to do so.
"I think in this instance it was probably that they were intentionally shooting at the birds," Stephens said.
Stephens said the population of the least tern is between 5,000 and 7,000 nationwide and that they are "not very common at all" in the state. He said there are signs up in some parts of the state warning people to stay away from the birds.
"We want to try to let them nest and grow the population," Stephens said.
The least tern was added to the Endangered Species List in May 1985. Adult birds grow to about 9 inches long and are predominantly gray and white with a black cap on their heads.
The birds can be found as far north as Montana and North Dakota and as far south as Texas, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Metro on 07/10/2014