Cody Roberts caused worldwide headlines last year when he used his snowmobile to run down a wolf in Wyoming, only for it to not die, and for the resident to parade the tied-up, injured, and muzzled animal through a local bar for patrons to snap selfies with it. After a while, the patrons got bored, and the animal was dispatched behind the bar in question.
The case shone a spotlight on Wyoming's predator laws, as well as animal cruelty statutes. And while multiple amendments to those laws have been proposed by the legislature, they've all failed as agricultural and ranching lobbies have killed them. Roberts, however, was recently indicted on felony animal cruelty, after receiving only a small fine of $250 after the incident took place.
That case recently had a trial date set for March. But two wrenches have been thrown into the works, as the US House of Representatives recently passed legislation that delists wolves from the Endangered Species Act. It still has to pass the Senate, and for the President to sign it into law, but another issue could be at stake, as the House also recently brought forth the "Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act," last week, which would make Roberts' actions legally liable, and likely face steeper fines and penalties than his current indictment.
On the news of both, Roberts' attorneys have asked the judge to dismiss the case.
First, let's talk about the Endangered Species Act (ESA) removal. Now, there's some valid criticism to be leveled at how the ESA has evolved over time, along with how Congressional review (and politics) have influenced how the ESA is utilized, as well as what goes onto it, and stays on it seemingly indefinitely. Like anything with Washington politics, monied pockets and lobbyists have influence, and the ESA has become a lightning rod for many to show how those influences affect science-based realities.
Grizzly bear reintroduction, population growth, and the lack of state management in the lower 48 is just one case-study, though there are others, too.
But wolves have become their own tipping point in recent years, as legislatures—not biologists or natural resource departments—have been at the forefront of reintroducing wolves to locations without the consult of locals, and seemingly without a plan of what to do if/when they begin to cause issues on the landscape, either with wild or domestic fauna, or with humans. Look at the fiasco going on in Colorado, where reintroduced wolves have become a pain point for many, including the wolves themselves, as many have died due to issues with relocation efforts, habitat issues, legal traps, or conflicts between wolves, humans, or other predators like mountain lions.
Those issues—created entirely by humans and their god-complex beliefs—have made it so that there's more politics imbued in this delisting process than science. Whether this passes the Senate is anyone's guess, but both Republican and Democratic administrations have delisted wolves in the past, only for them to get back on the ESA after court fights.
This, however, leads us to Roberts' new ask from the judge.
According to Wyofile, "Robert’s legal counsel, Robert Piper, made that request Friday while filing an amended motion to dismiss the indictment against his client. The seven-page legal document makes the case that Wyoming carved out an exemption in its animal cruelty laws for animals classified as predators, such as wolves." It's unclear whether the judge will agree to this motion, though the Wyoming Game and Fish Department did issue a press release last year stating that the state's cruelty laws did not apply to predatory animals.
Just as his counsel filed this, however, the US House of Representatives refiled the "Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act," which would make Roberts' actions, along with any sort of predator whacking through the use of vehicles, illegal and subject to steep fines and penalties. This is the second time the act has been introduced, having been defeated earlier. It remains unchanged from the original filing. Roberts' trial date remains later next year.
A last reminder, however, as we continue to cover this case. As a hunter and snowmobiler, I deplore what Roberts did. It ain't hunting. It ain't snowmobiling. It's wanton cruelty. Hunting revolves around ethics, about doing the ethical thing, and ensuring the animal doesn't suffer. It's about fair chase. And it's about the management of a resource that we were entrusted to protect. Nothing about Roberts' actions rises to those occasions. I think the book should be thrown at him, though activists have made wolves a cultural war, rather than science-based management, which in turn makes it easier for legislatures to OK wolf-whacking and other methodologies.
!["[T]he First and Fifth Amendments Require ICE to Provide Information About the Whereabouts of a Detained Person"](https://images.inkl.com/s3/publisher/cover/212/reason-cover.png?w=600)
