The rural county just south of Yellowstone National Park, home to oil wells, ranches and about 8,900 residents, is an unlikely target for international outrage. But the images of the injured gray wolf, said to have been taken in Sublette County, were quickly condemned, particularly by authorities in Wyoming, one of the few states where it is legal to hunt wolves.
A man seen posing with the wolf in a photo allegedly hit the animal with a snowmobile before muzzling it, showing it off at a Sublette County bar and later killing it, Cowboy State Daily reported in early April. Videos later released by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department show the wolf muzzled and slumped on a wooden floor, as one of its hind legs twitched and bar patrons talked in the background. The man was fined $250 for violating Department of Fish and Game regulations regarding possession of live wildlife, according to records obtained by The Post.
Gov. Mark Gordon (R) issued a statement calling the incident “reckless, thoughtless and heinous.” The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office announced it was investigating “allegations of animal abuse” after activists called for the man to be punished further. But Sublette County officials announced Monday that the wolf’s treatment may not violate state laws, which exempt critters and other creatures classified as “predatory” from protections against animal abuse.
Cowboy State Daily obtained a photo of a wolf that was captured and had its mouth shut while it was allegedly taken to a local man’s home and a bar in rural Daniel, Wyoming , before being killed. https://t.co/iEEGGwvuon
– Cowboy State Daily (@daily_cowboy) April 6, 2024
Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, compared the controversy to the high-profile killing of the lion Cecil in Zimbabwe in 2015. Attempts to strengthen Wyoming’s wildlife protection laws have failed in the past. But anger over images of the injured wolf could be enough to restart the effort, she said.
“It’s just something so egregious,” Combs said. “…People just can’t stand by and let this happen. »
Wyoming is one of three states in the Intermountain West – along with Idaho and Montana – that allow wolf hunting (gray wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act in the rest of the 48 contiguous states). Activists have raised concerns that relaxed wolf hunting laws in Montana have led to a decline in wolf populations in Yellowstone, the Post reported in 2022.
Wyoming allows more wolf hunting than its neighbors. In most of the state, wolves are classified as predatory animals and can be hunted year-round without a permit. Animals classified as predators are not protected by state animal abuse laws, an issue raised in 2019 when a lawmaker attempted to change them to ban “coyote whacking”: the practice of hunting these animals, also classified as predators, by pursuing them. and ram them with snowmobiles. The bill was not adopted.
“It was voted down before it even got out of committee,” Combs recalled.
The Cowboy State Daily reported that Cody Roberts, a Wyoming resident, allegedly used a snowmobile to run over the gray wolf in the photo in late February, injuring but not killing the animal. Roberts took a live wolf to his home and a business in Daniel, Wyo., according to a Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigation.
Attempts to reach Roberts for comment were unsuccessful.
The case might have escaped attention if images of the injured wolf had not been published in April. The Cowboy State Daily first published an image of Roberts smiling with his arm around the wolf on April 6. A few days later, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department released two videos from its investigation showing the wolf in a bar and the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office began investigating. investigate the incident.
The sheriff’s office has received phone calls and emails from countries including Canada, France, Greece and South Africa, and is also investigating threats made against Roberts’ family and unrelated businesses in the Sublette County, spokesman Travis Bingham told the Post.
Combs said his organization has also received a flood of inquiries.
“I think the eyes of the wolf in that photo are really… one of the reasons why people have such a visceral reaction to this,” Combs said. “Because the expression on that wolf’s face is so sad.”
Last week, dozens of people criticized Wyoming’s animal abuse laws and called for Roberts to be punished more during a two-hour public comment period at a State Commission meeting. Department of Hunting and Fishing. Some speakers said they had come from other states to attend the meeting and said they would no longer visit Wyoming. A California wolf sanctuary has called for $10,000 to advocate for strengthening Wyoming’s animal protection laws. Several people who identified themselves as hunters with generations of history in Wyoming said the treatment of the wolf betrayed their values.
“Many hunters are concerned that this incident will affect their hunting rights and ability to hunt in the future,” Jim Laybourn, hunter and program director with Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, said at the meeting. “I’m worried about something even worse. I fear that if there is no change on this issue, Wyoming hunters will forever be associated with people like Daniel’s wolf tormentor.
Dave Stalling, a Montana hunter and wildlife advocate who also spoke at the meeting, told the Post that the incident called for broader awareness of how wolves are viewed by hunters of the region. Wolf hunting is supported by a hunting culture that views the animals as disruptive predators and threats to livestock, he said. Bumper stickers encourage hunters to “save a hundred elk” by killing a wolf and “smoke a pack a day.”
“We have a deep, irrational hatred for these animals,” Stalling said. “And we treat them horribly.”
On Monday, Sublette County Prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich released a statement through the sheriff’s office, responding to criticism that the wolf’s treatment did not result in harsher punishment. Melinkovich said Wyoming’s animal abuse laws exempt the lawful capture and killing of predators and that it is legal to hunt predators using vehicles, but he said the incident still the subject of an investigation.
“Although many animal abuse provisions do not apply to the hunting, capturing, killing or destruction of a predatory animal, there are limited circumstances in which a person may be accused and convicted of animal abuse,” Melinkovich said. He declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Combs, the wildlife advocate, said she hopes the sustained anger can pressure legislative change to ban hunting with snowmobiles, even in a state that has resisted attempts to strengthen animal protections in the past.
Few lawmakers have spoken publicly about the incident, Combs said, but an update on wolf management was recently added to the agenda of a Travel, Recreation, Wildlife Committee meeting and cultural resources scheduled for May 14.
“The state of Wyoming just needs to know that they need to act,” Combs said. “There is no other option at the moment. Basically, do you want to be seen as tolerant of animal abuse?
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