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[{"type":"text","text":"If people acted like they do in cars....."}]

Bonus vid 1 1 9 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Bonus Video 1: Friday, January 9, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If people acted like they do in cars.....

Bonus Video 1: Friday, January 9, 2026

 If people acted like they do in cars.....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

As June draws to a close, it has been a lively year for human-bear conflicts, with several people getting attacked, one fatally, and bears being killed, or captured and relocated.

Some observers worry it’s going to get worse if dry conditions push more bears looking for food toward settled areas.

Recently, a woman and her dog were approached and circled by a grizzly bear near Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. The woman and dog escaped without harm, 

Similarly, in near Golden, Colorado on June 21, a black bear scratched a woman’s leg, and then 

 for about 30 minutes, despite her shouting and throwing rocks and sticks.

“It just seems to be that left, right and center, things are going on,” said Kim Titchener, president of Bear Safety and More, told Cowboy State Daily.

However, she noted that “20 or 30 years ago, we didn’t have phones with cameras.”

Now sketchy bear encounters are frequently caught on video, such as the woman’s run-in with the grizzly in Alberta, Titchener said.

And the videos blow up on social media, which can create an out-sized perception of problems with bears compared to the past, she added.

Despite recent rainstorms, including in Alberta where Titchener lives, it’s been a dry year overall in many places.

That’s led to questions over how bears’ natural food sources are being affected. And how that, in turn, might drive more conflicts, she said.

“Are there going to be berries (this year)?” she asked.

Regarding the grizzly moving in on the woman and her dog in Alberta, the consensus seems to be that the bear showed great interest in the dog, Titchener said.

In a video the woman took of the encounter, she repeatedly and sternly shouts at the bear, which gets just a few feet a way a couple times but never attacks the dog.

“It (the bear) was absolutely a threat to her and the dog,” Titchener said.

Some have questioned why the woman didn’t carry bear spray.

Spray is highly recommended in bear country, and Titchener said that two her knowledge, the woman has experience living and working around bears.

Apparently that day, “she was just taking her dog for a quick walk” and didn’t think to take her bear spray, Titchener said.

The incident highlights the need to never take for granted when a bear might appear, and being prepared with a defense mechanism, she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ruckus In Grand Teton"}]

Grant Teton National Park spokeswoman Emily Davis said the uptick in human-bear conflicts in Grand Teton seems to be about a month ahead of schedule this year.

A 3-year-old female black bear was killed by wildlife agents on June 15 because it had been getting human-sourced “food rewards” in the Jenny Lake area, Davis said.

“I’m not sure that anyone was necessarily feeding it” directly, Davis said.

Instead, the bear might have gotten food from unattended backpacks, coolers and the like, Davis said.

The black bear “was approaching people too closely,” so the decision was made to euthanize it, she said.

Heather Reich, a biologist and bear conflict management expert, told Cowboy State Daily that bear activity and conflicts are up across the West, probably because of an abnormally warm winter.

, a breed originally from Finland that specializes in harassing and chasing bears away.

In 2023, the Reichs founded Bear-ier Solutions, based in Nevada.

They were recently called to Grand Teton to drive a young grizzly named Miracle away from the crowded Colter Bay area.

“The dogs gave it a good chase, and I think that was a very novel experience for that little kid (Miracle), Heather said.

However, that still wasn’t enough to convince Miracle to leave the area for good.

 Thursday and relocated to a remote site in the park, the first such relocation in Grand Teton since 2021.

From the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s perspective, it’s essentially been a normal year, large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.

“I feel like things have been steadily busy with bears and conflicts, but nothing necessarily out of the ordinary,” he said.

“There were some higher-profile situations in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks that garner a great deal of media attention but aren't emblematic of conflict potential everywhere,” Thompson said.

Game and Fish works to prevent conflict through education, he said.

“The current dry state of the state is not lost on us, and what it may mean as the summer progresses for conflict potential between bears – black and grizzly – and people, he said.

“But we are prepared to deal with conflicts as necessary and continue our outreach and education across the state to inform the public on ways to reduce the potential for conflict with bears and other wildlife,” Thompson added.

Nobody has been mauled in Grand Teton this year. In May, there were grizzly attacks in Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park in Montana.  

 since 1998 when the body of Florida resident Anthony Pollio, 33, was found May 6 two days after he was reported missing.

His body was found about 50 feet from the trail he’d apparently been hiking.

 when they were attacked by a female grizzly with cubs near Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

A California man, Daniel Crago, said he was 

 by a grizzly before it finally let him go in an attack he sustained late last month in Glacier.

And on May 26, a man running on a trail in British Columbia was attacked by a female black bear with two cubs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Garbage Raids In Durango"}]

It’s been tough keeping up with bear incidents in Durango, Colorado, and surrounding La Plata County, local resident Bryan Peterson told Cowboy State Daily.

Because of drought, “bears at lower altitudes don’t have anything to eat,” said Peterson, the director of Bear Smart Durango.

“It’s too early for their fall foods to be impacted. I don’t know how great acorn production and berry production is going to be in August,” he said. “Unless we get a ton of rain, July is gong to be super interesting, and this fall could be nuts.” 

Many of the conflicts are driven by bears raiding garbage cans and dumpsters, Peterson said.

There’s been a steady increase of bear conflict reports in Durango and the county over the past five years.

As of June 28, there are 77 reports, he said, compared to 35 on the same date in 2025, 25 in 2024, 40 in 2023, 53 in 2022 and 49 in 2021.

Of the 77 reports, 39 have involved bears getting into trash, Peterson said.

“Those have resulted in two citations and $100 in fines,” he said.

Peterson said that frustrates him because as he sees it authorities should be cracking down on people who leave garbage accessible to bears.

A fatal black bear mauling took place in the area in 2021, he added.

“A woman was out walking her dogs, and what happened (during the attack) nobody knows,” he said.

The attack was thought to involve a female bear with cubs, he said.

“At all the local retail stores, after that incident, their sales of bear spray skyrocketed,” Peterson said.

Bear in dumpster 6 29 26

<title>Human-Bear Conflicts Up Across West Could Signal More Attacks, Removals Coming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It has already been a busy year for human-bear conflicts in Wyoming, Montana and across the West, with people getting mauled and bears being euthanized or relocated. And it could get worse thanks to drought and other factors, some bear observers say.

Human-Bear Conflicts Up Across West Could Signal More Attacks, Removals Coming

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Public Safety

What first appeared to be an ordinary construction delay on a lonely stretch of highway west of Casper quickly turned into one of the 

 many of those involved had ever witnessed.

By the time emergency crews reached U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58 Friday afternoon, two people were dead, seven others had been injured, and strangers were comforting survivors, checking on children, searching for fire extinguishers and handing out bottled water.

On Monday, the Natrona County Coroner's Office identified the two people killed as James Faris Cox, 74, and Susan Horn Cox, 69, of Golden, Colorado.

"That was my aunt and uncle killed in the wreck Friday," their nephew Lee Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily. "They were on the way to their house in Ennis, MT. They lived in Golden, CO."

[{"type":"text","text":"He said the couple was traveling alone."}]

"It was just my aunt and uncle in their truck, no survivors," he said. "My two cousins and their families were heading up there at a different time thankfully."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Semi, Multiple Vehicles Involved"}]

The Wyoming Highway Patrol said the crash involved multiple vehicles, including a semi-truck.

"Two confirmed fatalities. Seven injured. Seventeen people involved, two flown by helicopter, the others were taken to Wyoming Medical Center by ambulance," Wyoming Highway Patrol spokesman Aaron Brown said. "This is still an active investigation." 

As of Monday afternoon, investigators had not released a preliminary cause of the crash, and no criminal charges had been filed.

The Natrona County Coroner's Office said it is investigating the fatalities along with the Wyoming Highway Patrol and Natrona County Sheriff's Office.

[{"type":"text","text":"Krista Nethercott of Jackson never saw the crash itself."}]

She had been traveling toward Casper with a neighbor after taking her son to enroll in college when traffic suddenly came to a stop.

[{"type":"text","text":"At first, she assumed the delay was caused by nearby road construction."}]

"There were these pylons on the right-hand side that kind of tell you there's construction," she said. "But there wasn't anything alerting you to slow down. There wasn't a flagger."

After waiting several minutes, she said she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

She stepped out of her vehicle and walked toward the front of the traffic backup.

"That's when I could see there were cars on both sides of the road," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my goodness.'"

Nethercott said she immediately ran toward the wreckage to make sure someone had called 911 and to offer whatever help she could.

She said she told him, "I'm a funeral director. I'll help you. I'm not scared to see death." 

Working with another bystander, she checked on the occupants of one of the most severely damaged vehicles — the Coxes' pickup.

"The gentleman was immediately deceased," she said. "The lady probably lived a couple minutes."

[{"type":"text","text":"She said both appeared to have been wearing seat belts."}]

The truck was crushed so badly, she said, that she believed rescuers ultimately would need the jaws of life to remove the couple.

"If the woman had lived longer, I don't think this gentleman and I could have ever taken her out of the vehicle," she said. "That's how crushed it was."

Despite witnessing the aftermath firsthand, Nethercott said she has no idea what caused the collision.

"I don't know if the semi-trailer didn't slow down and ran into people, or if somebody was trying to pass too many vehicles. I couldn't ascertain that at all. It was just mass metal and cars," she said. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Before The Sirens"}]

The crash occurred about 45 miles northwest of Casper, and Nethercott estimated it was roughly 30 minutes before ambulances and fire crews reached the scene.

"It seemed like it was a long time to see paramedics," she said. "But considering you're out in the middle of nowhere, I don't think they could have gotten there any quicker."

Long before emergency vehicles arrived, however, strangers had already organized themselves.

Nethercott estimated around 10 people got out of their vehicles and immediately began helping.

One man walked the line of stopped traffic asking whether anyone had a fire extinguisher. Another, who identified himself as working at a pediatric clinic, examined a young child who remained safely strapped into a five-point car seat while the boy's injured father tried to comfort him.

Others brought camping chairs for survivors to sit in while Nethercott handed out bottled water from her vehicle.

"There were people left and right getting out of their vehicles and trying to find anything that could be used," she said. "Whether it's water, an emergency medical kit or a fire extinguisher."

[{"type":"text","text":"The scene itself was almost impossible to comprehend."}]

"There was debris all over the place," she said. "Food, toilet paper, paper towels ... it looked like somebody had been camping. There was glass everywhere, bumpers everywhere."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Wyoming Way'"}]

The Natrona County Fire District described responders arriving to "a very chaotic scene" involving multiple damaged vehicles, a large debris field, numerous victims and a large bystander presence.

The response included firefighters from the Natrona County Fire District, ambulances from Mills Fire Department, Banner Wyoming Medical Center and Evansville Fire/EMS, Wyoming LifeFlight, Guardian Flight, the Natrona County Sheriff's Office, Wyoming Highway Patrol, WYDOT crews, dispatchers and road construction personnel.

[{"type":"text","text":"Fire officials said 17 people were directly involved in the crash."}]

In a statement, the department singled out the motorists who stopped to help before first responders arrived.

"Crews would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all the bystanders who assisted victims immediately after the crash, while waiting for help to arrive, as well as while responders were on-scene, offering shelter during the passing of a thunder cell, emotional support and minor patient care," they wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"\"The true spirit of the 'Wyoming Way' was in full force this day.\""}]

Nethercott said, "There were people left and right getting out of their vehicles and trying to find anything that could be used. They didn't sit around and wait for somebody else to do it."

[{"type":"text","text":"The moment she has replayed most, however, involved Susan Cox."}]

Although there was little anyone could do medically, Nethercott said she wanted to make sure the woman did not spend her final moments alone.

"We told her help was coming,” she said. "We don't know what happens when people are unconscious, but we wanted her to know somebody was there."

Only after that did she turn her attention to survivors who still could be saved.

Among those survivors is Kensi Van Patten. A 

 campaign organized on her behalf says she suffered serious injuries in the crash and faces a lengthy recovery while her family copes with mounting medical expenses. 

The fundraiser asks for donations to help with medical costs and lost income during her recovery.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol, Natrona County Sheriff's Office and Natrona County Coroner's Office continue to investigate the crash. 

Double Fatal Crash Go Fund Me 6 29 26

<title>Witnesses Describe Chaos, Compassion After Wyoming Crash That Killed Colo. Couple | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An older Colorado couple have been identified as the two people killed in a Friday multi-vehicle crash west of Casper. "We made sure she wasn't alone,” said a Jackson woman who was among those who stopped to help the couple and others hurt in the crash.

Witnesses Describe Chaos, Compassion After Wyoming Crash That Killed Colo. Couple

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

A 39-year-old Lovell woman has been charged with making terroristic threats for an unhinged tirade that prompted sheriff’s deputies to barricade part of Main Street during the town’s annual Lovell Days celebration.

Weeks after Destiny Ann Devyak was given probation for a drug-related conviction, she called the Lovell Police Department at about 4 p.m. Thursday asking to talk to a particular officer. Told the officer wasn’t there, she came to the office in person 37 minutes later.

When the officer still wasn’t there, and neither was the police chief, she “stormed out of the PD saying something bad was going to happen,” Officer Cody Clark says in an affidavit of probable cause.

That touched off a series of disturbing calls to other agencies, including one to the police department at 5:09 p.m. saying, “Now I’m gonna take this town down and I want you to kill me suicide by cop, or I’m gonna f*** up this town,” the affidavit says.

Only three minutes later, Devyak reportedly called One Health in Powell, Wyoming, saying that “she was going to come to the Lovell Police Department and shoot all the officers and then herself,” the affidavit continues.

That’s when the LPD locked and secured the front lobby door and called the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office for help locating Devyak, the affidavit says.

“The town of Lovell was holding a community event on the 200 block of East Main Street,” Clark wrote. “Citizens were out on the sidewalks watching the show, which was being performed on the road.

“Deputies responded and tactically parked on the street to barricade the road in case Devyak showed up,” the affidavit says.

Clark wrote that he got a call from Devyak’s probation officer, who said she was at the Super 8 motel in town, but she wasn’t there when police responded.

She was located the next day, Friday, and arrested on suspicion of making terroristic threats, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.

She had her first court appearance Friday and has been scheduled for a July 7 preliminary hearing.

[{"type":"text","text":"Devyak is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond."}]

She also was ticketed out of Park County with interference with a peace officer.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Failed Drug Test"}]

Devyak’s alleged threats came less than a month after she was sentenced to a year of probation for a drug-related conviction.

That was June 1, and three days later on June 4, she reported to the Lovell Police Department for a drug test, which is required by her terms of probation.

There, she met with Officer Shatel Coleman — the same officer she was demanding to talk to and see on Thursday before she began making threats.

On the day of the drug test, Devyak arrived at about 8:30 a.m. and appeared under the influence of drugs, Coleman wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed after their interaction.

“I could tell that Devyak had been using illicit drugs by watching her movements in the camera,” Coleman wrote about observing her on surveillance video. “Devyak was picking at her skin and appeared to have uncontrollable arm movements.”

Once inside, she reportedly told Coleman that she couldn’t take a drug test because it would come up “dirty,” the affidavit says.

She told the officer that she had just used meth, but would do a drug test if she could have a glass of water. Devyak was given some water and peed in a cup, which tested presumptive positive for meth and negative for fentanyl.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Why Not?’"}]

“Devyak stated the methamphetamine she smoked was some really good shit,” the affidavit says. She also “stated multiple times if she doesn’t go to jail today, she is going to buy some more methamphetamine because at this point, why not?”

Because she drove herself to the police department, Devyak was hit with a DUI charge that’s still pending in Big Horn County Circuit Court.

She also has a lengthy criminal record going back to October 2019, mostly for drug-related offenses.

Devyak was out of jail at the time of Thursday’s alleged incidents because she had been released on a $2,000 bond on June 6, two days after her failed drug test and DUI arrest, court records show.

Destiny Ann Devyak 6 29 26

<title>Lovell Woman Accused Of Threatening To Kill Cops And ‘Take This Town Down’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Lovell woman has been charged with making terroristic threats for threatening to kill cops and prompting part of Main Street to be barricaded during the town’s Lovell Days celebration. “I’m gonna take this town down,” she said, according to police.

Lovell Woman Accused Of Threatening To Kill Cops And ‘Take This Town Down’

Julie Mankin

Around Wyoming

Eighth-grader Chaney Akin of Cody didn’t just dominate the National Junior High Finals Rodeo last week on her diminutive – but nationally famous – horse in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Akin won the pole bending aggregate by almost a full second and capped the week by taking home All Around Cowgirl honors to rake in nearly $6,000.

Akin’s time of 19.60 seconds in the first round Tuesday morning – thought to be a Lazy E Arena record – came aboard her 19-year-old former trail-riding mare officially named Chick's Keen O Pocopoo but known affectionately by the family as “the little Paint donkey.”

“That was my fastest run ever in the poles,” said Akin, who had been awake all through the previous night thanks to tornado-related evacuations. “When I first looked at the scoreboard, I thought it said 19.9. But then I heard everyone screaming.”

The NJHFR drew more than 1,200 contestants from 40 states and six countries. Akin also finished 16th in barrel racing, on a gelding she trained, to secure the coveted All-Around Cowgirl award and lead the Wyoming girls to fourth in the team standings.

Two of the only other four sub-20.00 runs were posted by Casper’s Lanai Garnhart and Gillette’s Bella Moore. Garnhart finished second and 11-year-old Tinlee Thompson of Yoder third in the All Around Rookie Cowgirl standings behind a girl from Mexico.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Famous Horse"}]

It was Akin’s first NJHFR qualification, but her horse was already famous.

“Paint” became a rodeo Cinderella story in 2020 when Akin's mother, Brittney Sporer, took her all the way to the National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing despite the mare’s diminutive size and cowhorse breeding.

Many of the sport’s top fans didn’t realize at first that Akin was riding the same Paint. But the mare is distinctive.

She stands barely 14 hands tall and has such a narrow rear end that saddles must be custom-made. She got her wild red-and-white color from her sire, Mr. Dominator, and she’s out of a granddaughter of cowhorse legend Smart Chic Olena.

[{"type":"text","text":"She also has had cancer in one eye."}]

“She doesn't know she's 19,” Sporer wrote of Paint on Facebook after her daughter’s world titles. “She doesn't know how many miles she's traveled or how many memories she's made. She just knows she gets to load in the trailer and go somewhere with us to do the jobs she loves.”

Sporer grew up in Bakersfield, California, where she was sent Paint in 2016 for barrel-racing training when the mare was already 9. The duo made the California Circuit Finals Rodeo twice, and Sporer bought her along when she moved to Stephenville, Texas.

Since marrying Cody native Sid Sporer in 2022, she’s also made the Montana Circuit Finals twice on Paint. She said Paint has earned more than $300,000 running barrels.

“I did not like her at first,” Akin said of her mother’s rough-riding mare. “I hit a lot of barrels on her and don’t have much confidence on her in that event.”

But once the duo began winning at the poles, she’s decided she loves competing on Paint. Bending through all six poles six times at the NJHFR without a penalty for knocking one over is quite a feat.

“You just have to use your feet and not pull on her reins,” Akin said. “In the second round, I was a little handsy and had a 20.1. She lined out, after that.”

The NJHFR venue is smack in Tornado Alley. Last week, hundreds of families spent half of two nights evacuating horses from stalls and sheltering in the arena.

“The group of people who rodeo in Wyoming are amazing,” Sporer said. “One of the dads ran around to all of the trailers knocking to wake us up, and said, ‘We’ve got to go; there’s a tornado; we’ve got to get to the barn’. We hadn’t even gotten warnings on our phones. We loped our horses bareback up to the arena and sheltered for almost two hours.”

As of Monday, mother and daughter were eager to get home by July 2, when Sid Sporer is scheduled to compete in team roping at his big hometown rodeo in Cody.

Brittney Sporer admitted she and her daughter have started training all of his roping horses on the poles. He might not get them back, she joked. 

[{"type":"text","text":"However, Akin owes him."}]

 rodeo,” Brittney recalled. “At the time, I told my husband I was going to sell my horses. He said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Well, I texted him yesterday and said, ‘Thank you for not letting me sell my horse.’”

She said Akin, a home-schooled 14-year-old, has enjoyed living in Wyoming the past five or six years.

“She loves Wyoming, and the parents and the kids here are just amazing,” said Brittney, who still has a house in Texas and goes there “when it snows.” That’s why Chaney has decided to compete for the Cowboy State next year as a high school freshman.

“Ever since we left Texas, people were saying it was because the rodeos in Wyoming would be easier to win,” she said. “But all four Wyoming girls made the NJHFR short round in barrels. So, that is not the case. We went to Wyoming because it’s harder to qualify. In Texas, the qualifiers are whoever does well one day.”

And by now, winning the NJHFR has become a stepping stone for many of today’s top pro rodeo contenders. 

Chaney Akin of Cody didn’t just dominate the National Junior High Finals Rodeo last week on her diminutive – but nationally famous – horse in Oklahoma, she took home two world rodeo titles. Her famous horse has earned more than $300,000 running barrels.

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