Outrage over a Daniel resident reportedly running a wolf down with a snowmobile continues to reverberate with an anticipated bipartisan U.S. House bill aimed at banning such acts.
The Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons (SAW) Act is expected to be introduced soon by U.S. Reps. Don Davis, D-North Carolina, and Troy Nehls, R-Texas.
It would ban using snowmobiles or other vehicles to directly pursue or run over wildlife on federal land in all 50 states.
That would include Wyoming’s vast swaths of National Forest and Bureau of Land Management land.
Whether the practice would remain legal on private property and state lands in Wyoming would remain up to the state Legislature.
The Legislature’s Treatment of Predators Working Group has been tasked with recommending possible reforms to Wyoming policy.
During a June meeting, members of the group indicated that it likely would not delve into banning the use of vehicles to run down predators.
However, that’s not to say a bill to ban that practice won’t be introduced during the Legislature’s 2025 session.
Strange Bedfellows
The SAW Act appears to be a case of politics for a common cause creating strange bedfellows.
The bill is promoted by a pair of Washington, D.C., environmentalist and animal welfare groups — Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.
Animal Wellness Action spokesman Wayne Pacelle described Nehls as a typically staunchly conservative Texas Republican.
“Congressman Nehls was in law enforcement. He’s a Second Amendment advocate and an avid hunter, and he also believes in animal welfare. I thought he would be a good ambassador for this bill,” Pacelle told Cowboy State Daily.
He added that Davis is “a rural and agricultural representative, who also opposes acts of malicious animal cruelty.”
Information from the congressmen’s offices about the bill was scant Friday.
Davis’ spokeswoman Kris Aleksander told Cowboy State Daily that “we are not the original sponsor of this legislation,” and referred questions to Nehls’ office.
Nehls’ press secretary Emily Matthews also declined to comment on any details.
Cowboy State Daily sent inquiries to the offices of Wyoming Republicans U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman asking if they are aware of the pending bill, and if they anticipate supporting or opposing it.
Those inquires weren’t answered by publication time for this story.
Calls For Reform
Using vehicles to run down or over wildlife is already banned on federal land in Wyoming controlled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
That agency controls many tracts of land and wildlife refuges across the Cowboy State, some of which allow hunting.
Retired FWS game warden Tim Eicher of Cody said that efforts to force change at the federal level don’t surprise him, even though state-level reform of predator policy would be more effective.
According to accounts of events Feb. 29, Cody Roberts, 42, of Daniel, Wyoming, ran a wolf down with a snowmobile, then captured it.
He reportedly took the wolf to his residence, and then showed it off in the Green River Bar in Daniel before taking it behind the bar and killing it.
The outrage over that incident highlights the need for predator management reform in Wyoming, Eicher said.
“In Wyoming with regards to predators, the only limits on behavior are the depths of each individual’s depravity,” he said.
Concerns About Agriculture, Hunting
Others have expressed concerns that laws made in reaction to the Daniel wolf case could unjustly restrict hunting and ranchers’ ability to protect their livestock from predators.
Pacelle said the bill is written to ban only directly pursuing predators, trying to run them to exhaustion, or deliberately running them over.
Using vehicles to search for, track and spot predators would still be allowed, he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
