BANGOR (AP) – A $2,000 reward is being offered by state and federal officials for information leading to the conviction of whomever shot and killed a protected wildcat in Aroostook County earlier this week.

After the Maine Warden Service received a call Monday from a hunter who had found a dead Canada lynx on a road not far from Route 1A between the towns of Hamlin and Van Buren, wardens retrieved the 25-pound adult male animal and began an investigation.

The lynx had been shot through the hindquarters with a high-powered rifle, according to the Bangor Daily News.

On Thursday, officials with the warden service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service brought the dead lynx to Bangor and held a press conference to appeal to the public for information. They also announced a reward of $1,000 from each agency.

Poaching of a lynx is a federal crime. Lynx are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Anyone convicted of killing a threatened species faces a fine of up to $25,000 and-or six months in prison.

Monday was opening day of Maine’s second week of moose hunting. It is also open season for some game birds and deer for bowhunters.

“It’s early in the hunting season, so a lot of people are going to be out there,” said Chris Dowd, the resident agent in charge of New England for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “And this is an area frequented by a lot of hunters.”

State wildlife officials estimate that there are at least 500 lynx in Maine, which is the only state in the East to support a self-sustaining population.

Lynx can look similar to bobcats, especially at a distance, but Lt. Pat Dorian of the warden service said that doesn’t matter in this case.

“There is no way it can be construed to be an accident, in my mind’s eye, because right now there is no open season for any wildcat,” said Dorian.

State officials said there have been four incidents of lynx being shot and killed in Maine during the past three years.

Last week, DIF&W officials agreed to ban larger foothold traps throughout northern Maine to guard against trappers inadvertently snaring lynx. The settlement was a result of a federal lawsuit filed by an animal rights group.