GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) — Wildlife officials say a snowy owl found shot to death last week at the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area near Great Bend probably was shot by a poacher.

The owl was alive when it was found last Thursday but had a serious injury to a wing. Veterinarians at the Great Bend Raptor Center amputated the bird's wing but it died the next day.

The Wichita Eagle reports  that snowy owls are not an endangered species, but shooting one is a federal violation.

The owl is one of more than a hundred that have been spotted this year in Kansas. In a normal year, only one or two snowy owls are seen this far south of their habitat in the Arctic.