Despite widespread outrage over a wolf being run down with a snowmobile in the infamous Daniel wolf torture incident, banning that practice in Wyoming doesn’t seem imminent.
Instead, the focus should be on requiring predators be killed quickly, regardless of the method.
That’s the takeaway from members of a legislative working group Tuesday looking into reforming Wyoming’s predator polices in the wake of the Daniel incident.
In some cases, running predators over with snowmobiles could be more humane than shooting them, said Jim Magagna. He represents the Wyoming Stock Growers Association on the Wyoming Legislature’s Treatment of Predators Working Group.
“If you were to say, ‘Well, you can go out and shoot them (predators), but you can’t run them over with a snowmobile,’ as an example. I may shoot at an animal and injure it, but not kill it, and that animal is left to suffer,” Magagna said during the working group’s meeting in Lander on Tuesday.
“If, in a particular instance I can kill that animal or run over it and immediately kill it — which I think should be required under the law — it may actually be a more humane treatment of that animal than just being out there shooting and injuring animals and then not being able to chase them down to finish the process, as is normally required in good hunting management,” he added.
Magagna explained that some ranchers might use snowmobiles to run down coyotes or other predators during the winter to clear the predators out before the springtime lambing and calving seasons.
Jess Johnson, who represents the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said that for the purpose of consensus, it’s best to keep a narrow focus on preventing prolonged suffering when predators are killed.
“As a hunter, that doesn’t necessarily sit well with me that method of take (running animals down with vehicles). But I do understand the need for it on the agricultural side,” she said.
The central ethical question for the working group to tackle is probably how quickly a predator is killed, not the method that’s used to kill it, she said.
Response To International Outrage
According to accounts of events in Sublette County on Feb. 29, Daniel resident Cody Roberts, 42, ran down and injured a wolf with his snowmobile. He then captured the animal, took it to his house and subjected it to abuse, including taping its mouth shut.
Later, he reportedly took the wolf to the Green River Bar in Daniel and showed it off, before finally taking it behind the bar and killing it.
The incident sparked outrage across the country and around the world. Many claimed that it’s appalling that Wyoming allows predators to be run down with snowmobiles.
People also are angry because they thought Roberts got off easy. According to court records, he forfeited a $250 bond on charge of illegal possession of a live, warm-blooded animal after being cited by Wyoming Game and Fish game warden Adam Hymas.
There were calls for Wyoming to ban pursing predators with vehicles and reform animal cruelty statutes to include predatory animals.
The working group was formed by the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee. It’s charged with recommending reforms for the committee to introduce during the 2025 legislative session.
Besides Magagna and Johnson, the group includes legislators from both houses, Wyoming Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik, Wyoming Department of Agriculture Director Doug Miyamoto and other state officials.
The group didn’t take any formal action or hear verbal public comment Tuesday.
But the consensus was that the best approach is to recommend adding language to state statutes requiring predators be killed quickly. Or, that people who are trying to kill predators should take reasonable steps to quickly finish off wounded animals and not allow prolonged suffering.
Can We Legislate Ethics?
Working group member Sen. Fred Baldwin, R-Kemmerer, said that while the desire to do something in response to the incident in Daniel is understandable, trying to legislate ethics can be tricky.
“What could we have had on the books, in the statutes, that could have changed the behavior of this individual?” he asked. “And I’m honestly not sure if there’s anything. We’re on thin ice when we start legislating about ethics and about morals. Although I’ll be honest, it happens all the time in the Legislature.”
There was also some discussion about game wardens’ discretion with issuing citations.
Illegal possession of a live, warm-blooded animal carries a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, Nesvik said.
But the maximum penalty can only be brought to bear if the case ends up before a judge, he said. Otherwise, the suspect has the option of simply forfeiting the $250 bond, which is what Roberts did, according to records.
The case can go before a judge if the person facing the charge decides to contest it or if the warden thinks it should be brought before a judge, Nesvik said.
Wardens are given discretion in the field to decide whether a case warrants being brought before a judge, or if the suspect should be offered the option of simply forfeiting the bond, he said.
Why Wasn’t The Bar Shut Down?
Shortly after the incident, it was suggested that the Green River Bar could be cited, and possibly shut down, for allowing a live animal in an establishment where food is being prepared and served.
Miyamoto said a Department of Agriculture inspector was sent to the bar to discuss regulations that forbid allowing animals near human food preparation and service.
However, the department usually issues citations or calls for establishments to be shut down only after repeated or particularly egregious violations of that regulation, he said.
Wyoming’s Dual Classification Of Wolves
The Daniel wolf torture incident has also called into question Wyoming’s classification of wolves as predatory animals in most of the state.
In areas of northwest Wyoming adjacent to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, wolves are classified as a trophy game species.
There, they are managed by Game and Fish and may be hunted only with licenses, during set hunting seasons and within bag limits.
Outside of that trophy game management zone, or in roughly 85% of Wyoming, wolves are classified as a predatory species.
That classification also includes coyotes, jackrabbits, porcupines, skunks, raccoons, red foxes and stray cats.
Those animals may be hunted and killed at any time, and also by means that aren’t allowed for big game or trophy game animals, such as the use of night vision or being shot from aircraft.
In the predatory zone, wolves aren’t directly managed by Game and Fish, but are instead under the Department of Agriculture’s jurisdiction, Nesvik said.
Game and Fish doesn’t consider the areas outside the trophy game management zone suitable habitat for wolves, he said.
“Wolves, in order to be viable and have healthy populations, need to be in places where there’s not a lot of human activity,” Nesvik said. “They don’t co-exist well with humans.
“And I don’t mean that from any kind of a public safety standpoint, but from a conflict with other uses on the land — agricultural production is No. 1 — they just don’t co-exist well in those places where there’s human-dominated landscapes,” he added.
Environmentalists and wildlife advocacy groups have long contended that wolves could, in fact, survive and thrive in the rest of Wyoming. Activists have expressed hope that the incident in Daniel will provide them leverage to eliminate Wyoming’s predatory classification of wolves.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
