Green groups push federal government to ban 'yote whacking' on public land

JACKSON — After a Wyoming man allegedly abused a wolf in Daniel, setting off international outrage, environmental groups are lobbying a new group of policymakers to make changes intended to protect wolves.

Over 60 conservation organizations, including Jackson-based Wyoming Untrapped and Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, penned letters last week calling on the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to ban people from killing wildlife with snowmobiles, or other vehicles, on public land.

“Running down wildlife with vehicles is only one of many hunting practices authorized by state wildlife management agencies that have no place on our federal public lands,” Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate at Center for Biological Diversity, wrote. “You have an opportunity to make clear that the brutality toward wildlife exhibited in Wyoming has no place on our federal public lands. We urge you — seize the moment.”

Cody Roberts, the Daniel man accused of tormenting the wolf, allegedly ran the animal over with a snowmobile, took it home and to the Green River Bar, before killing it out back. Roberts’ alleged actions have set off uproar in part because he was cited only $250 for possessing live wildlife, a misdemeanor.

In Wyoming, wolves are considered “predators” in 85% of the state, meaning they can be killed in almost any way, and without limit. There are only a few restrictions: People must follow trapping regulations and are banned from using automatic weapons, shooting wolves from vehicles, or while intoxicated. In the wake of the incident, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which cited Roberts, also said that animal cruelty statutes don’t apply to predators, an assertion advocates and some Wyoming lawyers dispute.

The apparent legality of Roberts’ actions has prompted calls to ban running over animals with snowmobiles — a practice known as “yote whacking” — and to extend animal cruelty protections to all animals.

Wyoming officials are beginning to consider policy reform. Gov. Mark Gordon has assembled a group to talk about the incident and Wyoming wolf policy, and a legislative committee will talk wolf policy in May.

Some onlookers, however, think environmental groups’ pursuit of federal action is premature, especially considering how much work federal agencies are currently completing in Wyoming. The Bureau of Land Management, for example, is currently in the process of completing the controversial Rock Springs Resource Management Plan, and other measures concerning renewable energy and oil and gas development. The BLM also just finished the Biden administration’s conservation-oriented Public Lands Rule.

“The federal government right now is doing so much here,” said Rob Wallace, a retired Department of the Interior official and Teton County resident who oversaw the Park Service during the Trump administration.

“For them to take a big initiative like this, I just don’t see it going anywhere,” Wallace said, urging environmental groups to wait for the state to act, and Sublette County’s investigation to finish. “I suggest you see what’s going on there before you run off to the federal government, seeking relief from them.”

Wallace also said the incident showed a problem that nobody knew about until it happened. But wildlife groups have said that’s not the case, that “yote whacking” has been happening in Wyoming for years, and that the state’s decision to classify wolves as predators set the stage for the Daniel incident.

It’s also as-yet unclear whether and how Wyoming will act, particularly because most reform is in the hands of the conservative legislature.

In 2019, Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, proposed a bill in the Wyoming Legislature to ban people from running over predators with snowmobiles. The bill never made it out of committee, after gaining only two votes.

This time around, Lisa Robertson, co-founder and president of Wyoming Untrapped, said she fully expects Wyoming to take action on predator reform.

“We can do it within our state and I think we’re capable of it,” Robertson said. “I think the people in our state may be ready to step up and do what’s right.”

This story was published on April 29, 2024.