Roughly 10 months after penning the op-ed below, Hannah Haeussler reconsidered her position. Her response to her own essay can be found here. — Ed.
Suddenly, Gov. Mark Gordon and Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners have gained a conservation ethic that cares about basic respect and dignity for wildlife. I don’t buy it, since Wyoming officials built a narrative about wolves and put in place the legal framework that allowed a disgraceful torture of a wolf to happen.
Opinion
They’ve stressed to the public that the actions of a Sublette County man don’t reflect Wyoming’s attitude toward wildlife. This man ran down a young gray wolf with a snowmobile and maimed it, then took it to a local bar with its muzzle duct-taped shut and showed it off for hours while it was dying before finally killing it.
But actions speak louder than words, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s disgraceful management of numerous wildlife species shows that this incident reflects its values when it comes to ethics, fair chase and basic respect for wildlife.
Let’s start with the messaging that comes out of the department. Wyoming has consistently pushed the narrative that carnivore species, and particularly wolves, are the problem with the management of deer and elk. There’s not a meeting in which Wyoming doesn’t bring up the need to kill more predators.
Wyoming officials fought hard to establish the “predator zone” outside the far northwestern corner of the state — basically narrowing protection for wolves to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and some of the adjacent lands. Game and Fish has claimed that small area in the northwestern corner of the state is the only suitable habitat for wolves.
In the remainder of the state — roughly 85 percent — wolves can be killed by any and all means, including by bludgeoning, so being run over with a snowmobile is completely legal for predators. That’s what happened near Daniel, where the hunter then took the live animal to a bar for hours of torture and videotaping in a gross spectacle of triumph. The torture, to be clear, was forcing the animal to interact repeatedly with humans while it was likely dying of internal bleeding.
Gordon and the Game and Fish commissioners expressed outrage at the incident. But their past statements, and most importantly policies regarding wolves, have encouraged killing as many wolves as possible, by any means. In a statement from Game and Fish, they called their management of wildlife, including wolves, the national “gold standard.” As a Wyomingite and conservationist, I vehemently disagree this disgraceful treatment should be touted as an example.
To portray this as a one-off incident is passing the buck for a culture built up by politicians, wildlife officials, ranchers and hunters. This is not the only incident in which a wolf was brutally killed with no ethics. And when a bill came up in the Wyoming Legislature to outlaw the practice of running over predators with a snowmobile, it died quickly. Lawmakers even said they should be able to kill predators by any means, at any time. This incident proves that’s happening. The horrifying part of this story is that no charges would have come to this man if someone had not had the heart to report what they saw in the bar that night, and the charges will not prevent this man, or anyone else, from repeating this torture.
Wyoming wildlife officials’ claim that wolves cannot live in other parts of the state is nonsensical, since in many areas they’re also talking about how desperate they are to kill more elk in response to complaints from area landowners. Of course, those landowners are grazing public land at 6% of market rates and getting compensated for game damage on their private lands.
Now, Wyoming is ready to apply that same anti-carnivore zeal to grizzly bears. The state has filed a petition to remove federal Endangered Species Act designation for a species we’ve invested decades to recover.
We’ve seen how this turns out, and we will not stand by and allow our state’s misguided approach to wildlife management take over one of our national wildlife treasures. This disgraceful incident is just a symptom of Wyoming officials’ attitude toward wildlife.
I’m a new resident to Wyoming after moving from the North Lake Tahoe region just about two years ago. This fact does not undermine my experience with wildlife nor my opinion about how population control should be dealt with. Having my own personal experiences with a grizzly in Alaska and a California Black Bear that actually came into my home in the middle of the night awakening my wife and I and prompting a immeadiate reaction by both of us. Although my response to the unknown intruder was much more sane than my wife’s, as I was prepared while holding my Colt 45 semiautomatic with a full clip, it was my wife’s response that resulted in an immeadiate exit of the full size 7-8 ft standing on rear legs in my living room. Before I was able to do or say a thing to stop the threat the Rath of a woman with three babies sleeping just down the hall we traveled to greet this beast standing in my living room came out in full force by screaming at the top of her very meanest tone, she “Demanded that this bear turn himself around and leave in the same manner that it entered through our front large picture windows, and to do it now before she gets really mad”. To my disbelief, the bear took her berating to heart and did exactly that! Of course we had a very long laugh at the unbelievable story that just played out before our eyes. The true amazing part to the story was when I did the responsible thing by reporting the incident to the Lake Tahoe Fish and Game and the Placer County Sheriff’s department. After explaining the entire incident I was instructed that if it were to occur again that I could not shoot the bear even if it came into my house by forceable entry as before. I was dumbfounded by what the authorities were telling me especially when they were unwilling to set any kind of trap in my front yard in case of a return. I essentially was being told to stand down even if the bear was coming into my home and threatening my family. This story highlights my experience with wild carnevors that could at any moment turn and take your life if they so choose. The other was with a grizzly that greated me while fly fishing in Alaska, and my only defense was to release my days catch to him starring me down only 20-25 ft from me standing in the middle of the Alexander Creek that we were traveling down via rafts. In this outdoorsman opinion any wild animal that threatens my life or that of my family while at my home in the Lake Tahoe National Forest is fair game for me and my 44 mag or my 454 riffle which ever is more accessible. Now any wildlife that happens to cross my path in its natural habitat, I’m in its place of natural residence and I have no rights other than those afforded me by getting a tag to legally hunt that species under certain conditions set forth on the tag. To intentionally strike any wildlife with a vehicle of any kind should be a clear violation of federal law punishable by imprisonment and/or fine. With there having to be some very special circumstances to be by fine only and would have to be a stiff fine. I don’t care or condone poaching or killing of any animal that has torture, intentional cruelty or sport killing for a specific part of the animal to be sold on the black market or otherwise. There must be strick enforcement of such protection to all wildlife in our world. What’s described in this article is pure and simple torture and complete disrespect for wildlife as a creature of God deserving of respect on every level. The wildlife that we hunt was here before we were, so for us as the human race to respect them any less is sacriligious. The man who took the wolf and put him on display while suffering from its injuries sustained by being hit by the snowmobile, should be imprisoned for at least 5 years or more depending on all things that factually took place. No amount of explanation could change my position on that being his plight even now after the fact while he wanders free with his attitude of entitlement.
I am behind you 100%. Tell me what you need me to do, Im onboard. This took a piece of my heart, damaged me to my soul, and I will never be the same. The anger overwhelms me daily, and the pain has been with me since I became aware of this incident. It is unbelievable that a state allows wolves to be stalked and run over with snowmobiles. This is really messed up!
What?! Ranchers are grazing their herds on public land, then complaing that wild predators are coming after their livestock? Thats absurd! If they don’t like it, they need to keep their livestock on their own property. Then I could understand their compaints.
Wyoming Loves Wildlife Like Ted Bundy Loved Women
As someone who has visited Wyoming as a tourist a number of times, and as a certified litigation paralegal who worked on federal cases in NYC for 15 years, I’d be more than happy to join any lawsuit against Wyoming, its Legislative bodies, its wildlife regulators, and the bastard who tortured this wolf (he’s a certifiable psychopath, torturing animals is the cardinal sign of psychopathy). I’d file an Amicus Brief if the suit has already been filed. Let me know!
I strongly agree.
If torturing and killing wildlife is Wyoming’s idea of a “gold standard” of management and ethics, we would all be better off without these sadistic, unaccountable state game agencies. The need for reform of state wildlife management is sorely needed but that reform is extremely unlikely to come from the agencies themselves. Constructive action by state legislatures is needed.
Well said. Nothing more needs to be said. Just action must be taken today and not tomorrow or sometime in the future.
Why is Wyoming so sadistic to its wonderful wildlife?! Kill, torture, kill.
I imagine there are people on the lower rungs of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department who are as angry about this as everyone else is but aren’t heard because they are so far from the top of the heap that their opinions don’t matter. It has been established by research that humans who harm animals (I’m not talking about hunting, I’m talking family pets) go on to harm humans. What went on here was so far from hunting that I just about can’t believe that people are calling it that. This story is now national. It is a disservice to real hunters all over and to our state to have it portrayed this way. However, Hannah is right–this is not a one-off. I recall a letter in the Wyoming Game and Fish Magazine years ago from a couple who had witnessed a herd of antelope being chased and shot at from a pickup truck. They said they would not be visiting again since that sort of thing went on. The editor said he hoped they had reported it since that is illegal, but I doubt they did since they didn’t seem to realize that. Such behavior does active harm to the tourism industry here. Is this really how we want this state portrayed?
Wyoming is portraying itself this way, as a destroyer of its wonderful wildlife treasures. Sickening.
You wrote “where the hunter then took the live animal…”. REAL Hunter don’t do this. They don’t abuse animals.
Yes. This was not hunting.
These lawmakers should hang their heads in shame. To even think it’s ok to torture and animal to death is barbaric and cruel ! To be allowed to randomly kill a species is unthinkable. What is wrong with the mindset of someone who thinks crushing an animal with a snowmobile is okay?I loved my trips to beautiful Wyoming but no more. These lawmakers seem to think they are God. Instead they are just murderers of God’s most beautiful, social and loyal species, the wolf.
I agree wholeheartedly, wildlife in Wyoming comes in second fiddle to livestock and target practice. It’s not just wolves being “hunted” e.g., exterminated, it’s every animal that’s not a “game” animal. (I’d hate to guess how many animals die a slow death after being hung up trying to cross the endless fences in Wyoming.)
The guy ran down a wolf with a snow machine, captured him, muffled the animal up, took him into a bar and all he got was a $250 fine. Very sad.
Wyoming’s Trophy Hunt zone for wolves is all about “hunter opportunity”, not science. I live in an area next to the Park where few livestock are killed, mostly by grizzlies, NOT wolves. We have no livestock here late fall during the trophy hunt, yet we have the highest quota in the state’s Trophy Zone. Why? Not for controls but, as I’ve been told by Game and Fish, for “hunter opportunity.” I used to hear wolves at night and see them on hikes. What about my ‘opportunity’ as a non-hunter to hear them howling, or see them during the winter? Wolves are so scarce here now and the ones that are still around know what people are all about.
Every year WGF asks for comments on their trophy hunt. For years its made sense that the current Trophy Hunt Zone become a “Science Zone” with NO hunt. Wolves venture out of the Park frequently. Instead the remainder of the state where there are more private lands should be the Trophy Hunt Area.
The establishment of a Predator Zone was a huge mistake, and concession, by the Obama administration. If Wyoming refuses to change their status for wolves, USFWS should retake control of WY, ID, and MT; get rid of the 150 wolf minimum (which was only done because they had no idea how well their experimental reintroduction would go) and use science as a basis for delisting.
I have never understood the general premise that “the only good wolf is a dead wolf” I don’t understand why 85% of Wyoming is a “shoot on sight” territory….it is my belief that wolves can be beneficial to our landscape, but Wyoming will not allow any type of coexistence. If you see ’em, shoot ’em…why, what were they doing? Maybe, just maybe if you had left that wolf alone, we could have been one step closer to a society that can cohabitate with all species, including predators. A rancher once told me that he believes if he’s got a predator that is not causing any harm to his herd, why would you kill ’em. In time another predator would move into the territory and they might not be as predisposed to cohabitation. Food for thought.
State leaders will say whatever people want to hear. Actions speak louder than words. We’ll all see who they really are when they stop talking and actually act. Either that or on Election Day. Wyoming’s representatives are mostly livestock ranchers who represent the exploitation of everything beautiful of the state and those who hate those things. Don’t hold your breath that they will actually do one thing to back up their words.
Thank you Hannah for expressing what so many of us feel about this story.
There is the outrage, the grief, the injustice, and the usual political element.
To me this wolf’s tragic story is a metaphor for the larger story of the suffering that so many humans as well as other species are experiencing around the world.
Some have mentioned a resistance to cohabitation with Wolves as a deterrent to better predator management policy. Isn’t it resistance to cohabitation that precipitates all wars? Isn’t the demonizing of the “other” the engine that sustains wars? And isn’t it the demonizing that sanctions cruelty and torture?
Interestingly, there are many more synonyms than antonyms to “cruelty”. But “kindness”, “mercy”, and “compassion” would be a worthy start to changing a culture of cruelty.
Wyoming’s dual classifications of wolves depending on where they are in the state –Trophy Zone, Predator Zone — is like something out of a dystopian Road Warrior map. Defense of the Predator Zone, 85% of the state, is the claim that wolves ravage livestock and game animals. No facts back this up. It’s time to get rid of these killing zones.
1. Predator Impact on Livestock is Negligible
In 2023, predators including wolves killed a total of 12 cows and 21 sheep in Wyoming’s predator zone. This is hardly an amount that requires killing wolves; it’s too small to even be a statistic. There are more than two million cattle and 320,000 sheep in Wyoming. Livestock protection is a false premise for killing wolves. This should be corrected and acknowledged by WGFD.
https://wyofile.com/new-wolf-kill-compensation-fund-advances/
2. Wyoming has Too Many Elk
Three months ago, in January 2024, the elk population was 109,000. Killing wolves to protect elk is a fabrication, and WGFD has a responsibility to not perpetuate myths that stir up fear and hatred.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/08/11/wyoming-has-too-many-elk-and-nobodys-sure-what-to-do-about-it/
https://wildlifeinformer.com/elk-population-by-state/
3. Wolves and other Predators can aid Mule Deer Recovery
Disease and harsh winters have killed off Wyoming’s mule deer. The population is now 243,000, down from 409,000 in 2017. Wolves and other predators are the only known factors
that contain the spread of disease. Wyoming’s encouragement to kill wolves is spreading CWD and other diseases. This lack of wildlife management hurts hunters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/science/wolves-chronic-wasting-disease.html?login=email&auth=login-email
Hannah: It isn’t just Wyoming officials that have approved the State’s predator management for wolves – it’s the majority of the legislature which reflects the citizenry and ownership of land in Wyoming. If I remember correctly, the legislature voted 59-1 to establish the current predator status of wolves – that’s a landslide vote. The bottom line is that Wyoming is a ranching state – and, the ranchers literally own most of the private land in the state – and, they control the legislature. There’s no way they will tolerate apex predators killing their cattle and sheep – after all, its their livelihood and private property. Wyoming does have appropriate habitat for apex predators in the NW portion of the state – the YES – and, in that habitat wolf and grizzly bear recovery has been very, very successful. However, the rest of the state is not appropriate habitat – the grizzly bear recovery plan actually states that private land and BLM land is not core habitat – in other words, the great bears will lose their protected status when they leave the national forest boundary – after delisting of course. However, problem bears are commonly trapped and relocated and oftentimes euthanized when they leave their core habitat – and, predating on livestock is cause to trap problem bears.Fundamentally it all goes back to protecting the livestock industry which is the foundation of Wyoming. I just don’t see Wyoming’s approach to apex predator management changing in the near future – the overwhelming vote in the legislature which established the predator status for wolves should give you a clear indication of the intents of the majority of the state’s residents. And, it isn’t just Wyoming, the Idaho legislature approved strong wolf control measures – I think they targeted the removal of up to 90% of the wolves in Idaho. There’s a huge flaw in the wolf and grizzly bear reintroduction plans and that flaw is that the ranching industries in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will not tolerate apex predators – and now Colorado is just starting to see the conflict between ranching and wolf reintroduction – their first confirmed kills of livestock occured recently. About 5-7 years ago, I saw a USDA/APHIS pickup truck with a small pack of dead wolves in the back – they had predated on livestock and were eliminated for that reason – and, wolves can be eliminated for predating on livestock even when they’re listed as a T&E species ( outside of their core habitat of course ). Current policy is strongly in favor of protecting the livestock industry outside of the YES. Sorry, but that’s just the facts Hannah.
Then we must change the domination of wildlife policy by the ranching and hunting industries. Wyoming is about 1/3 federal land, and Idaho is about 2/3. BLM and USFS lands are supported by every American taxpayer, yet we have no voice in how those lands are used/abused. Speaking for myself as a co-owner, I do not willingly allow livestock producers to feed their cattle for $1.35/month (for a cow/calf pair) or $.27/month for a sheep while Wildlife Services lethally removes every other inconvenient species on their behalf. I want my public lands to be for wildlife, not for private-profit operations. Further, I believe a majority of people have ethics such that they do not support maiming, taunting, torturing any domestic or wild animal. We have to figure out how to use that to make change happen. If the legislatures of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming won’t do it, let’s find a work-around.
Pam: When I checked online for the status of wolves in Idaho and Montana I found that a congressman – I believe it was Sen Tester of Montana – had attached a rider to an appropriation bill which delisted wolves in Idaho and Montana and forbid further challenges in federal court of the matter. In other words, it was the elected delegates from those two states who formulated a work around from the often delayed and challenged USFWS listing. I am reasonably sure, that the current congressional delegates, especially Harriet Hageman and John Barrasso , are willing to again utilize attachment of a rider or direct legislation in order to achieve delisting of grizzlies and/or block attempts to relist or exert federal control over wolves in Wyoming. Wyoming is a small state obviously, but we do wield a lot of influence in congress, and, Harriet has been awarded with choice committee assignments in the house so she is positioned to influence listing and management decisions. If anything, Wyoming’s congressional delegation is positioned to draft work arounds which circumvent the weaknesses of the ESA and the USFWS problems with continuous legal challenges to the listings – thats why Idaho and Montana included a provision blocking endless legal filings; however, I do not know if the provisions blocking further legal challenges has held up in federal court – maybe a federal judge said congress went too far, should that be the case, the congressional delegates may push for major revisions to the ESA itself. So yes, there are workarounds, but they seem to be initiated by the forces favoring the ranching industry – I believe Harriet Hageman and Cynthia Lumis both grew up on farms/ranches so that alone should tell you where their allegiances lie. So, it isn’t just the legislature in Wyoming that supports the ranching industry – it also includes Wyoming’s congressional delegation. P.S. If anyone knows more about the circumstances of the Idaho and Montana congressional actions, please feel free to correct me or update the readers.
Lee, the old timers in Wyoming government know how much sway the demands of ranching hold over the work accomplished by any legislative session, and they use it to their advantage. Driscoll and Gordon knew from experience that most of the butts sitting around in Cheyenne in early January would start itching to get back home once the calves started dropping ; and that the brains attached to those derriers would do just about anything, or vote for just about anything in order to wrap things up quickly and get back in the saddle. A nice little habitat modification experiment would be to try convening the legislature later into February and see if the same slate of candidates would still be eager to toss their hats into the ring in November. I would wager not. I bet we’d be seeing a whole lot more diverse group of new faces under the rotunda in a hurry.
You should stop apologizing for the ranching, there’s no excuse for continuing to subsidize this dying and destructive industry. Ranching is another form of stylized violence, animal enslavement, and an extremely inefficient method of producing food. Cattle grazing is the number cause of land degradation in the American west and is heavily subsidized by American taxpayers. 48% of Wyoming is federal public land. There’s no excuse for the damage ranching does to our land, water, and wildlife. What happened to the “free market” where industries pay their own way and don’t burden others with obscene abuse? Ranching is not sacred and American taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for this abuse.
I do not agree with what happened to this animal. But, it’s an opinion. Just as you stated your “opinion”.
Absolutely correct! Well written editorial.
Certainly the wolf was treated badly, but that was one incident. I suspect booze, not the need to eliminate the wolf was to blame for the treatmernt. . On the other hand one has to consider the cruelty of importing and introducing the wolves in to ranch country. They kill or tear apart any other animal they can…if it is a pet or kids project, tough. The sad thing is tose who want the wolves are not the ones who pay the price.
Most of us are not naive enough to think this was “one incident.” It reflects an entrenched culture tacitly encouraged by state wildlife management agencies and their allies in the legislatures and commissions and governor’s offices. If you attribute and excuse Roberts’ behavior because he was drunk, would you also excuse a vicious assault on a human by a drunk person? Nobody wants to see livestock injured or killed by wildlife species, but producers have some responsibility to protect their (your) animals. You didn’t mention compensation programs nor nonlethal deterrent practices and tools that are becoming more common. Do you need help finding resources? Studies have shown that disrupting pack structure by killing one or more family members increases predation on livestock, yet that is a constant in the Rocky Mountain states where all carnivores are relentlessly persecuted. It is perpetuating a system that guarantees an endless cycle of harm.
Stop making excuses for sadistic acts and sadistic policies. The official treatment of wolves and other “predators” in Wyoming is abuse. And what about all the sacred cows you “love” and ship off to slaughter? The official Wyoming mindset is a trainwreck so enjoy the wreckage.
How about the cruelty of importing non-native livestock and killing all the bison to make room for them and continuing to kill any carnivore that might even go near them all the while livestock grazing upends natural cycles, transforms the biome, and degrades the watersheds. Everyone pays the price for that in endless subsidies and environmental harm.
Well put, Hannah, though I’d say this cultural blindness to abject cruelty is far broader than the Governor or Game and Fish officials. From the lynching of an Empire, WY Black man, while in the Torrington sheriff’s custody, in 1913 to Matthew Shepard’s brutal murder in 1998 outside Laramie, to the public torment of this poor wolf in Sublette, County, Wyoming has a sorry history of not just tolerating torture but implicitly, at least, celebrating it. The idea is, apparently, that if the living being in question is not a cisgender, white male human, it’s fair game for “real” Wyomingites. Well, not this one. I’m appalled at what happened in all these instances and most recently in Sublette County. Many others are, too. We’ll see if the crowds now hoped for to witness the annual torment of rodeo stock at Cheyenne Frontier Days are diminished by this most recent incident.