BALTIMORE, June 22 (UPI) -- Someone has fatally shot Maryland's rarest bird, and a sportsmen's foundation says it's offering a reward for information leading to their arrest.
Natural Resources Police say an unknown person or persons in Garrett County shot and killed the uncommon female northern goshawk and her three nesting chicks and did so outside any legal hunting season.
The bird is on the state's endangered species list, and its nest near Savage River State Forest was being watched closely by federal Department of Natural Resources biologists due to the bird's "highly rare" status, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The adult was noted missing early this month, and her remains were found Friday.
"You'd like to think that in this day and age, these things don't happen," said David Brinker, who has led the state's efforts to restore the bird for the last 30 years. "We'll try and get something good out of this, use it to educate. This is not the right way to behave in 2011."
The DNR says the northern goshawks are "critically imperiled in Maryland," with five or fewer birds remaining in the state, the newspaper reported Tuesday.
