WYOMING — The state-appointed Treatment of Predators Working Group met in Lander on June 25 to discuss potential changes to predator cruelty legislation, including whether to outlaw or modify animal cruelty statutes, the possibility of increasing fines for live animal possession and potentially implementing fines for putting a wild animal on display.
The Treatment of Predators Working Group was formed in response to the now infamous wolf possession incident by Cody Roberts in Daniel, Wyoming on February 29.
The working group consists of legislative and non-legislative members, and is structured similar to a formal subcommittee with public meetings and posted agendas. Teton County Representative Liz Storer, who is the Chair of the Predators Working Group, told Buckrail that Governor Mark Gordon wrote a letter authorizing the group to discuss animal cruelty but not to take up the issue of predator management.
Storer said that in approximately 85% of the state, which is land outside of National Parks, wolves, coyotes and foxes are considered predators. She also said that predators are currently exempt from animal cruelty statutes in Wyoming.
“When you step back and look at what the public was outraged about, it was the fact that you could run over an animal with a 600 pound machine, whether you kill it or not,” Storer said. “It’s well known that people actually do that with coyotes in different parts of the state with snow machines. I made the case to the Governor, that if sheep ranchers run over wolves as a form of predator management, then it’s really difficult to not talk about predator management. How do you differentiate when the same activity is conducted by ranchers preemptively to kill predators? Wyoming takes a preemptive approach to predator management.”
Storer pointed to the example of ranchers using snowmobiles to run over coyotes, and proposed differentiating the killing of predators for agricultural versus recreational purposes, but the working group declined. According to the group’s report, members focused on statutory changes to require that an injured or disabled animal be promptly euthanized.
Storer said that another item which was discussed during the working group’s June meeting was that a warden has discretion to set the size of the fine. She said that Roberts could have received a more serious penalty for putting the wolf on display.
“So instead of writing a citation for just $250, it could have been a higher amount or he could have been thrown in jail,” Storer said. “I think it’s fair to say that our hands are somewhat tied in terms of increasing fines unless we recategorize the crime. We can send a message to wardens that if anyone takes an animal home or puts it on display or doesn’t dispatch of it properly, they will have a higher fine or an additional penalty.”
Storer explained the next steps for legislators to potentially sponsor a new predator cruelty bill. On July 9 and July 10, Storer presented the working group’s June report to the Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources (TRW) committee in Casper. The TRW committee, which is chaired by Senator Wendy Schuler and House Rep. Sandy Newsome, will then decide whether or not to sponsor a item as a piece of legislation.
The Treatment of Predators Working Group will meet again by zoom in late August or early September to review the draft legislation, and will then submit it to the TRW during its September 30 and October 1 meeting in Cheyenne.
The TRW committee will take written public comments through the Legislative Service Office website.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story contained errors regarding the meeting dates. Those dates have been corrected above. Buckrail regrets the error.
