In May of this year, Trent Roussin, a UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences student and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employee, found the body of a female gray wolf that had been poached in Washington’s Stevens County. While the poaching death of any wolf in Washington is cause for concern, this one will have lasting effects, Roussin and other biologists told Crosscut in a July 2 story.

A $15,000 reward has been issued for anyone with information about the death of the animal, but the value of a wolf goes far beyond that, Roussin and other experts say. The wolf was a breeding female in the Wedge Pack, a small pack that is still growing, the story said.

For small packs like the Wedge Pack, losing breeding females could mean the end of the pack. The story referenced a recent paper, co-authored by SEFS Associate Professor and wolf expert Laura Prugh, that examined breeder loss to packs in Denali National Park.

“Breeding females tend to be the glue of the pack,” Roussin told the outlet. “On a local scale, if we lose just one breeding female in a certain recovery region, that can be a huge deal.” He points to the south Cascades, where there currently aren’t any breeding pairs. The loss of a breeding female could also mean the wolves disperse into other packs, which could be problematic in Eastern Washington where wolves are abundant.

Read the full story by Crosscut.