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Bird Flu (H5N1) Explained: Bird Flu Has Killed Dozens Of Dairy Cows In Multiple States, Report Says
WA Fish & Wildlife Is Trying to Prematurely Downlist Wolves in Violation of the State Recovery Plan
Display of a captured wolf in a Wyoming bar brings outrage
JUNE 1, 202411:06 AM ET
By
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/28/nx-s1-4984051/wolf-display-wyoming-bar
Daniel is part of a tight-knit ranching community in western Wyoming.
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media
Wyoming is home to hundreds of wolves, most live in or near Yellowstone National Park. They’re protected and a big tourist draw.
But elsewhere in the state wolves are still often reviled as predators and a threat to the livestock industry. So killing wolves in most of Wyoming is legal year-round without a license.
But one man who did that recently is now under investigation, after the animal’s death sparked outrage around the world.
Video shot inside a bar in Daniel, Wyo., population 108, in late February shows a muzzled and leashed wolf that looks to be injured, lying on the wooden floor. Bar patrons chatter in the background. Another video shows it attempting to snarl momentarily, but then submitting to a man grabbing its snout and leaning down to kiss it.
Cody Roberts in an image from a video in which he brought a live wolf into a bar in Daniel, Wyo., in February 2024.
screenshot by NPR
That man is Cody Roberts, who’s from a longtime local ranching family. Local media reports say Roberts ran the wolf over with a snowmobile, which is legal in Wyoming if the animal dies.
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But this wolf didn’t die that way. A source who requested anonymity for personal safety reasons says Roberts shot the animal later that night. But it’s what happened at the bar before he shot the wolf that has become a huge story.
Someone at the bar that night reported Roberts to local game wardens. They ticketed him for illegally possessing a live wolf, and he paid a $250 fine.
Global threats
Jackson Hole Community Radio broke the story a month after the incident. In April, videos of the bar incident surfaced and spread online internationally.
Cody Roberts isn’t talking to reporters, but people all over the world are talking about what happened at the bar in Daniel.
“I’ve had death threats from Ireland, Russia, Japan, Australia,” said another man who happens to be named Cody Roberts, but had nothing to do with the incident, is not related to the other Roberts, and lives about 100 miles way in Thayne, Wyo.
“I don’t know how many thousands of messages I’ve had,” he said, exasperated.
Some people have mistaken his Facebook page for the other Roberts.
“Like this one just says, ‘You’re a psychopathic wolf torturer kill yourself,’ ” he read.
People have threatened his family too — sharing his parents’ phone number online and even threatening to “run his grandson over.”
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Roberts said he has responded to every message explaining that he is not the same guy.
“One lady even went and said, ‘I don’t care if you’re not the right one, do me a favor and put a bullet in his head and this will all go away,’ ” Roberts read.
He said he’s also disappointed in what the other Cody Roberts did, but he actually thinks these threats are worse.
“Does he deserve everything that he’s getting? No, I don’t think he does,” he said. “You know, he’s still a human.”
“Boycott Wyoming” has become a trending hashtag. Another graphic circulating shows the Wyoming flag, with the words “Wyoming the animal abuse and torture state” superimposed upon it. The Wyoming Office of Tourism Facebook page is flooded with similar comments. The page normally posts almost daily, but went silent for almost all of April.
Local businesses are also facing backlash, including one-star reviews being left for some businesses only because they are in the same area as the incident.
Local anger
Cali O’Hare has had to write about it as the sole newsroom employee of the local paper, the Pinedale Roundup.
The reporter for the Pinedale Roundup newspaper says she’s faced local backlash for writing about the wolf incident
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media
“There’s all kinds of letters I’ve gotten. I got one that was like, ‘The world is watching you.’ You know — so no pressure,” O’Hare half-joked. “It’s not only a man’s reputation, his family and their livelihood on the line, but it’s also the reputation of the community — and the perception from the rest of the world.”
In this tight-knit community known for cowboys and sprawling sagebrush, this level of attention is unheard of. Not to mention — everyone knows everyone.
“I mean, I joke, it’s three degrees of separation,” O’Hare said, adding that she knew Roberts before any of this happened. “It is truly one of those, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.”
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O’Hare said locals have condemned her for covering the incident. They did not like hearing about an incident that cast a shadow over one of their own, and the resulting global backlash to their community.
One comment she got reads, “Go practice real journalism Cali O’Hare, you b***h on a witch hunt for a man’s family.”
Others asked O’Hare to stop the coverage, one accused her of not being objective or embellishing.
“I’m just doing my job. It’s not personal. And I have great empathy for all of the folks involved in this,” she said.
The motorcycle brigade
On Memorial Day weekend, the local frustration moved beyond keyboards to in-person in Daniel.
For weeks, wolf advocates from across the country, including a motorcycle brigade from Texas, planned to drive through Daniel to raise awareness and money to reform Wyoming’s wolf laws.
Police escort the motorcycle protest brigade through Daniel, Wyoming on May 26, 2024
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media
On the day of the event, a throng of locals came out, but only a handful of out-of-state advocates. The single-lane highway through town was lined bumper to bumper with trucks, livestock trailers, semis and hundreds of people, mostly locals. The day was peaceful, but tense.
“We have a great community. The people are the best,” said Lonny Johnson, a local farrier wearing a tan cowboy hat and purple silk scarf. “That’s why we’re here. No other reason than that.”
That was the main sentiment: Locals are tired of outsiders giving them a bad name. Many residents said they think Roberts is a good guy, he just made a mistake.
“Boys and booze and wolves obviously didn’t mix up well,” said Pat Johnson “What was wrong about it was bringing it to this d*mn bar.”
But, there were a few Wyomingites who felt differently.
“I’m not too happy with what Cody Roberts did,” said Gary Garlick, from the nearby town of Big Piney. “There’s a lot of ranchers that are upset with him as well. They’re concerned about predator control, but what he did was a little out of line.”
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He said he wished it had not come to this — a national protest in the tiny cow town.
Cattle ranching is important to Wyoming’s economy and culture
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media
Two women from California stood in front of the Green River Bar, sneaking by the giant livestock semi-trailers blocking the parking and street-side view of the infamous bar the wolf was brought into. They posed with red duct tape over their mouths — just like the tape that bound the wolf’s mouth in one of the leaked images.
“We drove 13 hours to get here,” Holly Smallie said, as a few local trucks blared their horns in the background. “Wolves are magical. We don’t deserve them. We’re no better than them. You live, you coexist, you care about wildlife.”
Smallie did not mince words — she thinks what Roberts did was torture and it needs further punishment.
The motorcycle brigade itself was short-lived. It took about one minute for six motorcyclists and several cars, one with a sign reading, “Stop wildlife cruelty,” to be escorted through town by police.
The local crowd mostly booed, blatantly giving a thumbs down. Some called out, “That’s it?” Another said, “And I canceled church for this?”
But, the wolf advocates said they raised $130,000 that they hope will reform Wyoming’s laws, so that in the future something like what Roberts did would amount to a much higher penalty.
The investigations
Even though Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department said they punished Roberts to the fullest extent of the law with the $250 ticket, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Department is not so sure. They opened an investigation into Roberts in April to see if any other laws could apply to the case. That investigation is still ongoing.
But that isn’t the only investigation. Apparently, there have been an unprecedented number of death threats resulting from the case, said Travis Bingham, the department’s public information officer.
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“Like the Sublette County Library has zero to do with it, but they’re getting them [threats],” Bingham said. “But the list goes on — his family members, citizens and town business owners.”
He added that many of the death threat investigations are not wrapped up yet either.
Additionally, the Sheriff’s Department, which serves a county of less than 10,000 people, has received thousands of frustrated emails, social media comments and phone calls, Bingham said.
“We’ve had them from back East to Texas to California, Washington, D.C., New York, Florida, was the majority,” he said, “We did receive a couple emails from out of the country, like Europe and Australia.”
The calls were clogging up their 911 services, so the department set up a separate tip line. Outsiders, like some at the motorcycle brigade, want Roberts to be arrested, and many are saying Wyoming’s wolf laws should be changed.
“A pretty good compromise”
“An incident like this tars everyone,” said C.J. Box, a popular Wyoming author who has penned dozens of books following a fictional game warden. He has extensively researched Wyoming’s wildlife culture and laws, including those about wolves.
Box said people may not like Roberts — and Wyoming — being attacked by outsiders, but that does not mean they are defending what he allegedly did with the wolf.
“That’s not hunting,” Box said. “Every hunter I know of, if they wound something, will try to dispatch that animal as quickly and humanely as possible. Not take it back, not show it off, not take pictures with it. That’s not the behavior of a hunter.”
He added that he thinks Wyoming’s wolf laws are a “pretty good compromise” — protecting the predator in much of the state’s northwest corner near Yellowstone National Park, and allowing them to be hunted in most of the rest of the state.
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But this incident has state lawmakers looking at making changes. They recently formed a committee with stakeholders, specifically looking at the treatment of predatory animals. Any official changes to state law would come next year during Wyoming’s legislative session, at the earliest.
Meanwhile, wildlife advocate groups have filed a lawsuit to list the gray wolf in the multi-state northern Rocky Mountain region as either endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Currently, the species is protected under the act everywhere but that region. If the plaintiffs win, Wyoming would lose its authority to allow wolf hunting, with regulations being set and enforced by the federal government.
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First-ever human death of bird flu strain H5N2 confirmed in Mexico: WHO
By Katie Dangerfield Global News
Posted June 5, 2024 4:10 pm
Updated June 7, 2024 11:41 am
1 min read
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the first laboratory-confirmed fatal human case of avian influenza A(H5N2) in Mexico.
The avian influenza A (H5N2) had only previously been reported in birds.
On May 23, Mexican health officials confirmed a case of the H5N2 bird flu strain in a 59-year-old resident of the State of Mexico, who had been hospitalized in Mexico City.
“This is the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus reported globally and the first avian H5 virus infection in a person reported in Mexico,” the WHO said in a statement.
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It started on April 17 when the patient, who has underlying health conditions, developed a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general malaise, the WHO said. On April 24, the patient sought medical care and was hospitalized and died the same day due to complications of his condition.
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Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, A(H5N2) viruses have been reported in poultry in Mexico, the WHO added.
Based on available information, the WHO said it assessed the current risk to the general population posed by this virus as low.
The bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species in several countries since 2020. The H5N1 strain was detected in U.S. dairy herds in March, and since then at least three people — all workers at farms with infected cows — have been diagnosed with bird flu, although the illnesses were considered mild.
— With files from Reuters
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Person with bird flu died in Mexico, WHO says
By Julie Steenhuysen and Adriana Barrera
June 5, 20244:37 PM PDTUpdated a day ago
Item 1 of 3 A drone view shows the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference after the World Health Organization said a person’s death was caused by the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with the A(H5N2) subtype of bird flu reported globally, and the first human infection with the H5 strain of the virus reported in Mexico, in Mexico City, Mexico June 5, 2024. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
[1/3]A drone view shows the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference after the World Health Organization said a person’s death was caused by the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with the A(H5N2) subtype of bird flu reported globally, and the first human infection with the… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Read more
June 5 (Reuters) – A person with prior health complications who had contracted bird flu died in Mexico in April and the source of exposure to the virus was unknown, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
WHO said the current risk of bird flu virus to the general population is low.
The 59-year-old resident of the State of Mexico had been hospitalized in Mexico City and died on April 24 after developing a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general discomfort, WHO said.
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“Although the source of exposure to the virus in this case is currently unknown, A(H5N2) viruses have been reported in poultry in Mexico,” WHO said in a statement.
It was the first laboratory-confirmed human case of infection with an influenza A(H5N2) virus globally and the first avian H5 virus reported in a person in Mexico, according to the WHO.
Scientists said the case is unrelated to the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in the United States that has so far infected three dairy farm workers.
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Mexico’s Health Ministry also said in a statement the source of infection had not been identified.
The victim had no history of exposure to poultry or other animals but had multiple underlying medical conditions and had been bedridden for three weeks, for other reasons, prior to the onset of acute symptoms, the WHO said.
Mexico’s health ministry said the person had chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.
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“That immediately puts a person at risk of more severe influenza, even with seasonal flu,” said Andrew Pekosz, an influenza expert at Johns Hopkins University.
But how this individual got infected “is a big question mark that at least this initial report doesn’t really address thoroughly.”
In March, Mexico’s government reported an outbreak of A(H5N2) in an isolated family unit in the country’s western Michoacan state. The government said the cases did not represent a risk to distant commercial farms, nor to human health.
After the April death, Mexican authorities confirmed the presence of the virus and reported the case to the WHO, the agency said.
Mexico’s Health Ministry said there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission in the case and farms near the victim’s home were monitored.
Other people in contact with the person tested negative for bird flu, the health ministry and the WHO said.
Bird flu has infected mammals such as seals, raccoons, bears and cattle, primarily due to contact with infected birds.
Scientists are on alert for changes in the virus that could signal it is adapting to spread more easily among humans.
The United States has reported three cases of H5N1 human infection after exposure to cows since an outbreak was detected in dairy cattle in March. Two had symptoms of conjunctivitis, while the third also had respiratory symptoms.
Although the death in Mexico was not the same strain as the one that is currently infecting cattle in the United States, they are both H5 avian viruses.
Pekosz said that since 1997, H5 viruses have continuously shown a propensity to infect mammals more than any other avian influenza virus.
“So it continues to ring that warning bell that we should be very vigilant about monitoring for these infections, because every spillover is an opportunity for that virus to try to accumulate those mutations that make it better infect humans,” Pekosz said.
Australia reported its first human case of A(H5N1) infection in May, noting there were no signs of transmission. It has however found more poultry cases of H7 bird flu on farms in Victoria state.
