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   Bodies of four male sea otters, a federally protected animal whose killing can be punishable with jail time, washed up on beaches over course of eight days 
   
   Federal and state officials are investigating the shooting deaths of California sea otters, after the bodies of four male otters were found washed up on beaches near Santa Cruz. 
   
   On Monday, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for killing three sea otters that were found between 12-19 August. 
   
   A fourth otter carcass was discovered on 20 August with a suspected gunshot wound, Ashley Spratt of the Fish and Wildlife Service said on Wednesday. 
   
   “Finding several gunshot sea otters at the same general location during such a short time frame is very unusual,” said Spratt. 
   
   “We don’t know why these otters were shot, but what’s important to note is that killing or harassing federally protected wildlife is a crime.” 
   
   Sea otters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, California state law and the Endangered Species Act. Killing a sea otter is punishable by fines up to $100,000 and could result in a jail sentence. 
   
   Sea otters were once widespread along the Pacific coast, but the mammals were hunted almost to extinction for their pelts during the 18th and 19th centuries. 
   
   In 1977, California’s remaining sea otters were listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. 
   
   “They’re a keystone species. They help play a role in the broader ecosystem,” said Spratt. “So with the loss of these sea otters, we also have the loss of their benefit to the ecosystem.” 
   
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   Today sea otters are primarily threatened by oil spills and coastal tanker traffic, Spratt said, although otter killings by humans are not unheard of. 
   
   In September 2013, three dead otters were found near Asilomar state beach, an unsolved crime that Spratt said is now considered a “cold case”. 
   
   The otter carcasses have been transported to the US Fish and Wildlife forensic lab in Oregon, where they are undergoing necropsies. 
   
   ||||| Hunt on for killer of sea otters found shot near Santa Cruz 
   
   Photo: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press / / In this May 8, 2007 file photo, an Southern sea otter cleans itself... 
   
   Park rangers are offering a $10,000 reward to get their hands on whoever shot and killed three endangered southern sea otters in the Santa Cruz area. 
   
   Two of the slain animals washed up on beaches in Santa Cruz and a third in nearby Aptos about two weeks ago, according to Max Schad, a wildlife officer with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. A fourth dead otter washed up at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, but rangers were unable to determine, because of its deteriorated condition, whether it had been shot. All of the animals were males. 
   
   Federal veterinarians said the animals had been shot from several days to several weeks before their bodies were found. 
   
   Southern sea otters, also known as California sea otters, once were plentiful along the Pacific coast from Mexico to Washington. They now number around 3,000 and are confined to the area between San Mateo and Santa Barbara counties. Heavy hunting during the 19th century nearly wiped out the species. They were declared threatened in 1977. 
   
   Killing a southern sea otter is punishable with a $100,000 fine and a jail sentence. 
   
   Anyone with information on the shootings should call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (650) 876-9078. 
   
   Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
target: – Before being hunted to near extinction for their pelts in the 18th and 19th centuries, sea otters littered the Pacific coast. Today the biggest threats to the 3,000 that remain are oil spills and tankers, reports the Guardian, and now a shooter on the loose near Santa Cruz, Calif. Authorities have found in just a matter of days four male sea otters washed ashore, though the fourth body was so deteriorated it's not yet been determined whether it was also shot, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The endangered furry marine mammals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, California state law, and the Endangered Species Act, and the killer could face fines up to $100,000 and jail time. "Finding several gunshot sea otters at the same general location during such a short time frame is very unusual," says a Fish and Wildlife Service rep. "They’re a keystone species.... With the loss of these sea otters, we also have the loss of their benefit to the ecosystem." Almost exactly three years ago, three sea otters were found dead near Asilomar state beach in Pacific Grove, Calif., in what the FWS rep says is now considered a "cold case." The recently found otter carcasses are undergoing necropsies at a FWS lab in Oregon. (One famous sea otter who survived an oil spill was ultimately nabbed by another ocean dweller.)