A Wyoming hunter has sparked outrage after he allegedly captured a wolf, taped its mouth shut and tormented it by parading it in a bar before finally killing it.
Cody Roberts, 42, of Daniel, has been cited for a wildlife violation over the sickening incident on Feb. 29, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
A shocking photo obtained by the news outlet shows the wolf with red tape wound tightly around its muzzle as Roberts poses with the animal in his home.
He allegedly disabled the wolf when he ran over it with a snowmobile, but instead of killing it, which is legal in the part of Sublette County where the incident happened, he took the animal to his home and then to the bar.
Roberts finally took the wounded animal out behind the bar and killed it, according to the Cowboy State Daily.
“This is awful,” said Rob Wallace, who oversaw the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service as assistant secretary for the interior in the Trump administration.
“Wyoming represents the best in wildlife stewardship and this is a sad and disgusting outlier,” he told the outlet. “In no way do I believe this represents who we are as a state.”
Wyoming Game and Fish spokeswoman Breanna Ball told Cowboy State Daily that an anonymous tip was received on March 1.
“The individual was hunting when he came across the wolf in the predator zone and intended to harvest it. However, the wolf was transported alive back to his residence and later to a business in Daniel, WY,” she said in a statement.
“The individual euthanized the wolf later that day. The individual was cited for violating Chapter 10, Importation and Possession of Live Warm-Blooded Wildlife,” Ball added.
Roberts was fined $250 for the violation, a penalty Game and Fish said is the only penalty it has the power to enforce.
The callous mistreatment of the wolf not illegal under state law, according to the outlet. People may be charged with cruelty to animals, but that only applies to pets and domestic animals, not predators like wolves.
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