Due to the wolf incident in Wyoming, lawmakers are considering changes to predator policy

by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile

A legislative task force on Tuesday drafted tougher penalties that adjust and clarify the state’s predator handling laws. The measures come in the wake of worldwide outrage over a Wyoming man who received only a citation after hunting, muzzled and parading a live wolf at a Daniel bar.

The Treatment of Predators Working Group, comprised of legislators, conservationists and advocacy groups, focused on two Wyoming laws that seek to prohibit the prolonged suffering of predators. The group drafted language that would make it illegal to allow harvested animals to suffer or live a disproportionately long life before killing them.

“The fundamental goal is to change behavior and stop this immediately, and I think we are getting closer to that goal,” said group member Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson).

The group did not hear from the public during Tuesday’s meeting in Lander, but it has received a lot of written feedback, said Chair Liz Storer (D-Jackson).

Storer said the comments highlighted two main issues. The biggest concern was animal welfare and practices that people believe are animal abuse. The second was frustration with the lack of fairness that comes with running over an animal with a snowmobile, taking possession of it and putting it on public display.

“There was quite a big outcry about the events that took place earlier this year,” she said. “It’s really our job to see if there’s anything we can do to change that.”

(Storer also serves as president and CEO of the George B. Storer Foundation, which provides financial support to WyoFile.)

Global rejection

On February 29, Daniel resident Cody Roberts ran over a live wolf with a snowmobile, muzzled the injured animal and took it to a bar where he was filmed and photographed before killing it.

Roberts confessed his actions to a Game and Fish ranger and was fined $250 for illegal possession of a warm-blooded animal. When the incident became public about a month later, it spread like wildfire, sparking fierce and widespread criticism and a boycott of Wyoming. The state then temporarily suspended tourism promotion.

Critics complained that the punishment was completely inadequate given the cruelty of the behavior. They also argued that pursuing predators with snowmobiles was unfair and inhumane.

Wyoming’s wildlife laws do not apply to predators such as wolves, according to Game and Fish. However, hunting predators with snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles is legal in Wyoming.

Wyoming officials have joined the chorus of disapproval, but say state law would have prevented a higher sentence for Roberts. That’s where the task force comes in.

The legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee created the task force in May “to address a number of issues, most notably a higher penalty for possession of a live wolf,” said its chairman, Rep. Sandy Newsome (R-Cody), who proposed the idea.

In addition to a handful of lawmakers, the group includes Brian Nesvik, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Doug Miyamoto, director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, a representative from Governor Mark Gordon’s office, Jim Magagna, representative of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, and Jessi Johnson, representative of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation.

One step at a time

When the group met on Tuesday, members made it clear that they were not there to test livestock protection, hunting or predator management. What happened in Daniel, they stressed, had nothing to do with any of that.

“The activity that led to this was neither hunting nor predator management,” Nesvik said.

Current law allows people to kill predators – including coyotes, raccoons, skunks and stray cats – without a permit, and allows hunters, ranchers and others to do so using “aircraft, motor vehicles, trailers, motorized vehicles or vehicles designed for travel on snow.”

Animal cruelty is a crime under the Wyoming penal code, although the laws appear to be geared toward pets, not wild animals. Animal abuse laws exempt predators from animal cruelty.

Members decided to first address the practice of keeping injured animals alive and to make changes to ensure that animals killed are killed quickly and humanely.

“This is about the mistreatment of a living animal,” Magagna said. If someone injures or preys on a predator, he or she must make a good faith effort to quickly end the animal’s suffering.

After an exchange of words, the group proposed amending the hunting and fishing regulations for taking predators to require that a person who injures or incapacitates an animal through the use of a ground vehicle must immediately make a good faith attempt to kill the animal. The group also voted to fix the predator exception in the Animal Cruelty Act and increase some fines and penalties.

NextUp

The second big problem, the actual method of capturing an animal by snowmobile, is “I think that’s more difficult and complicated, but I think it’s worth looking into,” Nesvik said.

Other members joined in. Storer said there had been many calls to ban the practice completely, but ranchers were using it to protect their livestock.

“I’m not necessarily happy with this type of extraction,” Johnson added, “but I understand that it is necessary in agriculture.”

However, the working group only agreed on draft language that addresses “prolonged suffering,” not the use of vehicles to kill predators. It will seek feedback from the public and authorities and review the draft over the summer.

In a letter to the group, Governor Mark Gordon called for “focused, targeted conversations about wanton animal cruelty. Punish unacceptable behavior and prevent animal cruelty without compromising predator control. All efforts should uphold Wyoming’s values ​​of private property rights and our well-established heritage of conscientious management of our remarkable wildlife.”

He also urged them not to be influenced by threats of a boycott against Wyoming or the misrepresentation of the people of Wyoming.

This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent, nonprofit news organization focused on people, places and politics in Wyoming.

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