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Reward offered in shooting of endangered California condor

September 11, 2018 GMT

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 21, 2017, file photo, California condor No. 67 takes flight in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, Calif. A reward now totals $15,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the shooting death of a similar endangered California condor. The condor was found with a gunshot wound in July 2018, on private property near the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Kern County. The bird later died. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially offered a $5,000 reward and on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, the Center for Biological Diversity tripled it. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The reward now totals $15,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the shooting death of an endangered California condor.

The condor was found with a gunshot wound in July on private property near the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Kern County. The bird later died.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initially offered a $5,000 reward and the Center for Biological Diversity tripled it on Monday.

California condors are one of the world’s largest birds with a wingspan up to 10 feet. Three decades after being pushed to the brink of extinction, the species is making a comeback in the wild.

Condors are protected under California law and the federal Engendered Species Act.