Less than 24 hours after Cowboy State Daily published a story detailing years of complaints and cattle attacks tied to roaming Great Pyrenees dogs, rancher Chris Eberline said another of her calves was attacked and killed sometime “late, late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.”
By Wednesday afternoon, deputies with the Fremont County Sheriff's Office and an officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department were back on the property performing a necropsy on the animal.
“We’re just tired of it,” Eberline said.
Another Dead Calf
Eberline said she noticed the latest dead calf when she went outside to feed the bum calves Wednesday morning.
“The top half has been eaten off,” she said about what she found. “It’s totally red.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, state officials had not publicly confirmed what killed the calf.
But Eberline is blaming the roaming livestock guardian dogs at the center of a long-running dispute between neighboring landowners.
“I wouldn’t break into their business and take $1,000 out of the register,” Eberline said. “I don’t understand why they can do it to mine.”
Eberline said the latest calf death only deepens frustrations already boiling over among ranchers who say they’ve spent years documenting livestock attacks they believe are tied to the dogs.
She said neighbors have repeatedly been told they cannot legally shoot the dogs unless they capture them actively attacking livestock on video because the animals are classified as livestock guardian dogs under Wyoming law.
They’re supposed to be keeping predators at bay, Eberline said, not being the predators themselves.
Despite spending thousands of dollars installing surveillance cameras across her roughly 1,000-acre property, Eberline said she still has not captured an alleged attack on video.
Four Years Of Complaints
The newest allegations come after years of escalating tensions between neighbors southwest of Kinnear involving large Great Pyrenees dogs, livestock losses and repeated law enforcement calls.
Court records show Fremont County resident Kerri Johnson has faced multiple “animal run at large” citations under Wyoming statute 11-31-301(c), which generally prohibits owners from allowing animals to roam and damage another person’s property.
Johnson paid fines tied to the same charge in April 2024 and again in April 2025, according to court records. Another citation filed against her was later dismissed by a judge April 11, 2025.
Additional citations filed between September 2025 and March 2026 remain active.
Johnson appeared Wednesday in Riverton Circuit Court for a hearing tied to the ongoing cases. The Fremont County Circuit Court clerk said Johnson’s next hearing is scheduled for June 24.
Further details from Wednesday’s hearing were not immediately available.
Cowboy State Daily reached out to Johnson multiple times for comment but had not received a response by publication time.
‘Too Big To Be A Coyote’
According to affidavits filed in her case by the sheriff’s office, neighboring ranchers Anna Shurtleff and Eberline have accused the dogs of chasing cattle, killing calves and roaming neighboring properties for years.
Shurtleff told investigators she has collected more than 700 photographs and videos documenting alleged incidents involving the dogs.
The complaints eventually drew in the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
On March 23, Game and Fish investigated a dead calf found on Eberline’s property. According to court records, investigators found the carcass partially consumed.
“The carcass was opened to feeding on its right flank and most of the entrails and organs were consumed,” Fremont County Sheriff Sara Lowe wrote in an affidavit.
Investigators reportedly found no signs of injuries linked to wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats or bears.
Instead, tracks around the calf were described as “too large to be a coyote, and too small to be a wolf.”
“The tracks were from either a domestic or feral dog,” the affidavit states.
Cameras, Threats And Missing Dogs
What began as livestock complaints has since exploded into a deeply personal rural feud.
Eberline said neighbors have attempted to document the alleged attacks with surveillance cameras because they were told video evidence would likely be needed before stronger action could be taken.
“The cameras cost about $120 to $150 a camera,” Eberline previously said. “I’ve got seven of them around my property.”
Johnson, meanwhile, has publicly painted a very different picture of the situation.
In Facebook posts reviewed by Cowboy State Daily, Johnson shared photographs of injured Great Pyrenees dogs she claimed had been shot.
In one February 2023 post, Johnson wrote that one dog named Thor had been rushed to a veterinarian after being shot while “guarding his home and flock.”
In another post, she wrote another dog named Ed had been found “gunned down” in a field.
“My faith in humanity is beyond shattered,” Johnson wrote at the time.
Johnson also claimed four additional dogs were missing.
As the conflict drags into another year, Eberline said many neighbors feel trapped between protecting livestock, navigating complicated livestock guardian dog laws and avoiding a situation that could spiral even further.
“I stated in court that somebody’s going to get hurt,” she said.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
