For the second time in a week a radio-telemetry collar has been found cut from a lynx in southwest Colorado. Division of Wildlife officials suspect both cats were killed illegally, possibly for their pelts.

The first collar was found Oct. 25, dropped into a mail slot at the Silverton post office. The collar was removed from a male lynx that was born in the San Juan Mountains in 2004. The cat was trapped and collared by the DOW last winter. The appearance of the collar indicates that it was cut off.

DOW officials found a second collar on Oct. 27 after the collar transmitted a mortality signal via satellite uplink. That collar was located in snow on Missionary Ridge, about 20 miles northeast of Durango. No evidence of lynx remains was found at the location.

The collar had been placed on a female lynx, released in 2004. The cat had given birth to three kittens in May or June 2005. Without their mother the kittens will die, said Tanya Shenk, a lynx research for the DOW.

"They are just too young to make it on their own," Shenk said.

DOW officials speculate that someone shot the lynx, possibly to sell the mounted lynx or pelts on the black market. DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said he did not know if the two cases are connected, but that it looks suspicious and the department is investigating both.

The lynx is an endangered species in Colorado and is protected as a threatened species by federal law. It is known, however, that lynx pelts and taxidermy-prepared mounted lynx are sold illegally throughout the United States. If either lynx is found dead, officials also want to know the location. The lynx remains would be tested to determine the cause of death.

The DOW is tracking 110 lynx that have been fitted with radio collars. It is estimated that about 200 of the cats could be alive in the state.

Information about the two removed collars can be offered anonymously to the DOW. A reward may be given to an informant who provides information that leads to the conviction of a person of a wildlife-related crime. To provide information, call Drayton Harrison, a district wildlife manager in southwest Colorado at 970/375-6754. Tips can also be called in to the DOW's Operation Game Thief: 877/265-6648.

Eight conservation organizations in Colorado also have announced that they will provide $3,400 for information that leads to a conviction. Those organizations are Sinapu, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Wilderness Workshop, High Country Citizens Alliance, Colorado Wild, Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project, Prairie Preservation Alliance. To make a report to one of those organizations, call: 303/447-8655, ext. 1#.

If anyone sees a lynx in the wild, the DOW asks that the sighting be reported on-line at http://wildlife.state.co.us, click on "Species Conservation" and then on "Lynx."