• Second bill still allows for predator ‘whacking’ with snow machines

By Mark Davis
Powell Tribune
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

POWELL — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed several bills into law Monday, including a bill that came in response to a Sublette County case of wildlife abuse. 

Gordon signed HB 275, which in part makes it a crime to torture wildlife — including predators — that people take into their possession. 

The bill followed national outrage over the actions of Cody Roberts, the Daniel resident who reportedly ran down a sub-adult female wolf with his snowmobile, then bound the injured animal’s mouth with appeared to be duct tape, put a shock collar on it and dragged it into the Green River Bar in Daniel to show it off. 

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The new law does not prohibit the recreational tradition of running predatory animals over with snowmobiles, but does require people to “make a reasonable effort to immediately kill the injured or incapacitated animal.” 

Failure to do so would be considered a misdemeanor under Wyoming’s animal cruelty laws, punishable by up to six months of jail time, a $5,000 fine and loss of hunting and fishing privileges.

 A second or subsequent offense would be a felony. 

Roberts was fined $250 by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which was the full extent of the law allowed by state statutes for possession of a live wild animal at that time. 

The incident resulted in a fury of protests across the country, giving the state a black eye, Gordon said last year. He said the case was not reflective of Wyoming’s values for wildlife. 

“I want to make my position on this absolutely clear. Cruelty to any wildlife is absolutely unacceptable. This is not the way anyone should treat any animal,” Gordon said at the time. “I am outraged by this incident, just like thousands of Wyoming ranchers, farmers, sportsmen and sportswomen, and others around the state.” 

Then-Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Brian Nesvik — who is now President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — said then that the incident “casts a shadow over the state’s proven track record of successfully and responsibly managing our gray wolf population.” 

The Wyoming Legislature convened a Treatment of Predators Working Group, which met in Lander in June and followed up with a virtual in September. 

HB 275 is the result of some of those discussions. 

It doesn’t change the ability to kill wildlife defined as predators and pests in the state, including by snow machines. 

Referred to as “coyote whacking” by enthusiasts, running down animals with a snowmobile is a niche recreational activity in Wyoming, with maybe 100 avid participants, according to a WyoFile story. Others contend it’s much more commonplace. 

In Sublette County, the activity is widespread enough that a resident once made and marketed apparel celebrating a pursuit he branded “chasin’ fur,” according to past reporting by WyoFile. 

As part of the fallout from the Roberts case, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, introduced a bill last fall that would make wildlife whacking a crime on federal lands. The act called for penalties of up to a year of jail time and a $5,000 fine for intentionally using a motor vehicle to run over, strike or kill a wild animal on public lands. 

“Our federal lands are not battlegrounds for reckless and belligerent behavior,” Mace said in a statement. 

“This bill will preserve the safety and beauty of our natural spaces and ensure wildlife can thrive without the threat of harm from motor vehicles,” she said in a press release. 

However, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, told WyoFile at the time that, “with all due respect to my southern colleagues, we do not need members from districts that do not even drive snowmobiles trying to regulate our western way of life.” 

Mace’s legislation failed to get traction and has yet to be reintroduced during the new term. 

Another bill that Gordon signed on Monday, HB 211, expands the right to hunt predatory and pest wildlife from aircraft, automotive vehicles, trailers, motor-propelled wheeled vehicles or snowmobiles on private land — including wolves in the predator zone outlined by the Game and Fish Department. 

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Casper, has said he brought the legislation after a constituent was fined for shooting prairie dogs from a truck. 

The law continues to specifically prohibit harassment, pursuit, hunting, shooting or killing any species of wildlife in the state that require a license or permit to take (i.e. game species) or that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. 

Predatory animals in Wyoming include coyotes, jackrabbits, porcupines, raccoons, red foxes, skunks, stray cats and gray wolves. 

Pest animals are considered pests if they are harmful to the state’s health or welfare. This includes animals that are poisonous to livestock, carry disease, or damage agricultural crops. 

Both of the state’s new laws will take effect on July 1.