Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

February 20, 2025 at 2:25 PM

A year after a Wyoming man shocked the world by carrying a wounded wolf into a rural bar and letting buddies snap selfies with it, state lawmakers are considering whether to toughen animal cruelty laws.

The incident in Daniel, Wyoming, last year drew international condemnation and sparked death threats after the man ran the female wolf over with a snowmobile, duct-taped its muzzle shut and dragged it into the Green River Bar in a shock collar at the end of a leash. He later killed it.

Wyoming state officials fined the man $250 ‒ not for torturing the animal but instead for possessing live wildlife ‒ because state law permits people to use snowmobiles or ATVs to chase and then run down wolves, coyotes and other predator animals in a process known as “whacking.”

“It’s a practice that needs to stop,” state Rep. Mike Schmid, a Republican who grew up near the bar, told USA TODAY Thursday. “It’s painting all hunters in a bad light.”

Wolves and coyotes are widely disliked in Wyoming, largely because they kill livestock, or game animals like elk and deer that hunters would prefer to shoot themselves. Under existing state law, it’s legal to run down predators under almost any circumstances in large portions of the state.

While Schmid is trying to ban the practice of “whacking” entirely, lawmakers are also considering a separate measure requiring anyone who runs over a predator on public land to kill it cleanly, rather than letting it suffer and die.

Schmid said as a kid, he chased his fair share of coyotes on snowmobiles, but was always taught to dispatch them with a bullet. He said the practice is less common than it once was, but still happens mostly in the western part of Wyoming where deep snows fall on federal lands. His proposal includes an exemption for ranchers targeting predators on private property.

Polls conducted on behalf of both wildlife advocates and hunting groups indicted broad support for banning “whacking,” and animal-rights groups are frustrated lawmakers haven’t yet acted. While a legislative committee approved the “clean kill” measure on Thursday morning, Schmid’s more comprehensive bill appears to have died.

“It should have been a slam-dunk issue,” said Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates. “I can appreciate the fact that people need to protect their livestock. But they don’t need to be committing torture.”

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