After numerous media requests from all over the world, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has released two video clips showing a live wolf, in what appears to be a bar, lying on the floor and muzzled. The wolf was alive at the time the video was made, but it was barely moving.
Game and Fish investigated the incident on March 1 but did not publicize what happened.
Five days after he was cited, Cody Roberts paid a $250 fine for violating statute 23-3-402(839), “regarding live wildlife or exotic animals, CH 10.”
Game and Fish say Cody Roberts of Daniel, WY admits he struck the wolf with his snowmobile and took the animal to his home and to the Green River Bar before he killed the animal out back behind the establishment.
The incident, and now the two video clips, has sparked outrage across the state of Wyoming and throughout the world. This is because of the way the wolves are classified in the state and the way legislation is written.
Back in 2012, wolf management transitioned from federal to state control. Wyoming’s legislators created two different sectors that had differing population management numbers and goals. Areas, like Park County, next to Yellowstone National Park, are classified as areas for trophy hunting, where wolf hunting is regulated. The rest of the Cowboy State is defined as a “predator zone” where where wolves can be killed without regulation or reason. Wolves are not the only species on the “predator zone” list. So are coyotes, red fox, stray cats, jackrabbits, porcupines, raccoons and striped skunks.
“You could pull a wolf apart with horses in 85 percent of the state,” explains Amaroq Weiss, Senior Wolf Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity told Outside magazine. Since there is no regulation governing how or when wolves can be killed, the laws in Wyoming differ compared to typical hunting regulations in any other state, where what are called “methods of take.” These regulations ensure animals are killed in ethical, humane ways, along with precise dates, strict guidelines on legal shooting hours, and generally universal bans on artificial light sources. But none of that is true in Wyoming’s “predator zone” when it comes to wolves. So all a hunter needs is an opportunity, not a license or tag, to kill a wolf.
Weiss cites “wolf whacking” as an example, and it’s how Roberts captured the wolf he would go on to torture and kill. The term describes using a snowmobile to run a wolf to the point of exhaustion and once the animal slows or collapses from exhaustion, the hunter kills the animal by either running over it with the snowmobile or shoots it with a firearm. Roberts left the animal alive only to kill it at a later time.
Why isn’t behavior like this covered by animal cruelty laws? Because, in Wyoming, those don’t apply to wolves.
In a statement released by Wyoming Game and Fish, they explain that, “The incident occurred in a part of the state where gray wolves are legally classified as predatory animals. Predatory animals are not managed by the department and animal cruelty laws, per Wyo. Stat. Ann. 6-3-1008 (a)(vii) do not apply to predatory animals.”
In response to the global outrage of this incident, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office is launching its own investigation into Roberts’ actions. The Sheriff’s Office says it’s working with the Sublette County Attorney and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department on the investigation, which could lead to additional charges for 42-year-old Roberts.
The incident has led to thousands of calls to the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office and threats of violence, according to Cowboy State Daily.
