A Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Division agent was honored at the March 1 Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting held in Baton Rouge.
Shikar-Safari Club International presented their 2017 Conservation Officer of the Year award for Louisiana to LDWF Senior Agent Tyler Wheeler, of Monroe. The Shikar-Safari award recognizes an agent from each state for outstanding efforts in conservation law enforcement.
Senior Agent Tyler Wheeler, 26, was shot four times including once in the head and once in the back around 2 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2017, on Hwy. 165 between Sterlington and Bastrop in Morehouse Parish. After numerous surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy, Wheeler was cleared to return to full time duty in late July of 2017.
“Senior Agent Wheeler was put through a lot in 2017 including getting shot in the line of duty and then having the motivation to put in all the hard work to return to duty within eight months,” said Col. Sammy Martin, head of the LDWF Enforcement Division. “We are happy to have him back and he has been picking right up where he left off before getting shot and that is being one of our top agents in the field.”
Wheeler has been an LDWF agent for five years and mainly patrols northeast Louisiana. Wheeler also received the LDWF Enforcement Division’s “Agent of the Year” award in 2017.