Wyoming could adjust the law that allows killing wolves with vehicles

Cheyenne, Wyo — Outrage over how a man hit a wolf with a snowmobile, taped the injured animal's mouth shut and took it to a bar has led to a proposal to change Wyoming's animal cruelty law to apply to humans who attack wolves legally killing them by intentionally running them over.

Under the bill introduced to a legislative committee on Monday, people could still intentionally run over wolves, but only if the animal is killed quickly, either upon impact or shortly after.

Wyoming's animal cruelty law is currently written to not apply at all to predators like wolves. The proposed change would require a person who strikes a surviving wolf to immediately use “all reasonable efforts” to kill it.

The bill does not specify how a surviving wolf should be killed after it has been intentionally struck.

The fate of the wolf that struck western Wyoming last winter has prompted a new look at state policy toward wolves. Wildlife advocates have pushed back against the ranch state's reluctance to change laws written after long negotiations to remove federal protections for the species.

Although other changes to the bill are in the works, the proposal up for discussion Monday wouldn't change much, said Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates.

“Everyone is against the torture of animals. So far, I haven't met anyone who has said, 'Yeah, I want to keep doing this,'” Combs said Friday.

The wolf caught on camera lying on the floor of a Sublette County bar sparked calls for a boycott of Wyoming's $4.8 billion annual tourism industry, which is centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, which provide prime wolf habitat not far from the wolf area was struck.

The organization had little impact as Yellowstone is on track to experience one of its busiest summer seasons ever.

Meanwhile, the man who hit the wolf – and killed it after displaying it – paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife but was not charged more harshly.

Investigators in Sublette County said their investigation into the wolf incident was stalled because witnesses refused to talk. District Attorney Clayton Melinkovich said via email Friday that the case remains under investigation and he could not comment on the details.

The bill being debated Monday would allow someone who intentionally hits a wolf with a vehicle to be charged with animal cruelty if they survive and are not immediately killed.

How often wolves in Wyoming are intentionally run over—whether for a quick death or for other reasons—is unknown. Such killings are not required to be reported and recorded cases like the Sublette County incident are rare.

The case brought new attention to Wyoming's wolf-culling policies, which are the least restrictive of any state where the animals roam. Wolves kill sheep, cattle and wildlife, making them unpopular with ranchers and hunters in rural areas.

Across the region, state laws aim to prevent the predators from spreading from the mountainous Yellowstone ecosystem to other areas where ranchers raise cattle and sheep.

In most of the United States, wolves are federally protected as an endangered or threatened species, but not in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, where they are hunted and trapped under state laws and regulations. In Wyoming, wolves can be killed without limit in 85% of the state outside of the Yellowstone region.

Although few in Wyoming have spoken out about what happened to the wolf, authorities have been reluctant to change the law to stop mistreatment. Jim Magagna of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association condemned the incident but called it an isolated incident that had nothing to do with the state's wolf management laws.