A Wyoming hunter paraded a wounded wolf in a bar with its mouth taped shut before taking it outside to kill it – with a family member later mocking outrage over it by posting a reenactment.
A shocking photo recently obtained by the Cowboy State Daily shows Cody Roberts, 42, smiling and raising a can of beer while holding the wolf with red tape wound tightly around its muzzle.
Roberts allegedly disabled the wolf when he ran over it with a snowmobile, but instead of killing it — which is legal in Sublette County, where it happened — took the animal to his home and then to the bar.
He finally took it behind the building and killed it, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
4
“This is awful,” said Rob Wallace, who oversaw the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service as assistant secretary for the interior in the Trump administration.
“Wyoming represents the best in wildlife stewardship and this is a sad and disgusting outlier,” he told the outlet. “In no way do I believe this represents who we are as a state.”
An investigation was launched into the Feb. 29 incident after an anonymous tip was called in a few days later, Wyoming Game and Fish spokeswoman Breanna Ball told Cowboy State Daily.
However, Roberts has only been cited for a wildlife violation over the shocking incident because people may only be charged with cruelty for cases involving pets and domestic animals, not predators like wolves.
He was fined $250 for the violation, the only penalty that Game and Fish said it had the power to enforce.
The photo sparked horror as well as a petition calling for Roberts to face a felony charge of animal cruelty.
4
Amid the outrage, at least one member of the hunter’s family publicly stood by him — while posting pics seemingly making light of the ordeal, including one with her mouth taped shut while she held up a wolf skin.
“I love and support you Cody,” the relative, Jeanne Ivie-Roberts, wrote on Facebook.
She also posted an article by Cowboy State Daily with the headline, ”Wyoming Animal Cruelty Laws Don’t Apply To Alleged Wolf Torment Case” — writing: “Woohoo.”
Ivie-Roberts’ post garnered dozens of comment from users, most of whom voiced support for the hunter, with one saying he “has a good heart” and another writing: “I’m with him!!! I’ll bring the duct tape.”
However, some expressed their horror, with one writing: “Cruelty should never be condoned! No reason for that BS behavior.”
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
Thanks for signing up!
While the mistreatment of the wolf is not illegal under state law, keeping an animal alive and tormenting is an egregious violation of hunting ethics, two sources familiar with the incident told the outlet on condition of anonymity.
Animal welfare groups also expressed outrage at the actions of the trucking business owner, as well as the lack of legal action.
“Roberts’ actions clearly warrant a punishment more severe than the $250 ticket he received …. such an anemic response on the part of law enforcement will be seen by some as tacit approval of his crime and can only motivate other like-minded individuals driven by hatred of wolves to engage in similar, repugnant behavior,” Scott Edwards, general counsel for Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, wrote in a statement.
4
His letter “cites Wyoming’s anti-animal cruelty law to encourage a more meaningful prosecution of Roberts,” highlighting a section that “makes it a felony to ‘knowingly, and with intent to cause death or undue suffering, beats with cruelty, tortures, torments or mutilates an animal.’”
“While the term ‘torment’ is not defined in the statute, dragging a wild animal into a bar with its mouth taped shut and subjecting it to the severe distress and anguish it must have suffered before being brought outside to be killed is a textbook example of torment,” Edwards wrote.
Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, said Roberts should not escape prosecution.
“The man who committed this atrocious act of animal cruelty cannot go without punishment under state or federal law, or both,” wrote Pacelle, who worked to make animal cruelty a felony in dozens of states and to make animal cruelty a federal crime.
4
“Running over and crushing an animal with a snowmobile, binding the battered and wounded animal’s mouth shut, and deciding to further torment the creature in front of an audience rather than putting him out of his misery is the textbook definition of malicious cruelty,” he wrote.
“A remorseless, cruel monster like this is a threat to other animals, and a threat to people. The law must speak,” Pacelle added.
The two groups are creating an online petition to urge officials to consider the felony charge of animal cruelty against Roberts.
The owner of the Green River Bar, where the wolf was reportedly paraded, did not respond to a request for comment by Cowboy State Daily.
