More than a year after videos of a leashed and muzzled wolf crumpled on the floor of a rural Wyoming bar ignited widespread outrage over the state’s laws permitting the killing of wolves, the man who captured the animal and later killed it was charged this week with animal cruelty, the authorities said.
The episode happened on Feb. 29, 2024, when the man, Cody Roberts, walked with the wolf on a leash into the Green River Bar in Daniel, Wyo., a town with a population of fewer than 150 people, according to the authorities and video released by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The wolf was a juvenile male, the authorities said. In one video, the animal, about the size of a large dog, was seen cowering in the corner and appeared to be limping.
The treatment of the animal in the video, which went viral, drew global attention to the western part of the state, about 100 miles south of Yellowstone National Park. It was widely covered by local news media, including WyoFile, a nonprofit news site.
The Game and Fish Department cited Mr. Roberts, and he paid a $250 fine last year for illegal possession of wildlife, the authorities said. But the outrage did not dissipate. Social media accounts promoting tourism in Wyoming were inundated with comments calling for a boycott of the state’s national parks, The Associated Press reported at the time.
Clayton M. Melinkovich, the attorney for Sublette County, whose office brought the felony charge against Mr. Roberts, said that Mr. Roberts and his family were overwhelmed with harassment and threats.
Posts on social media lashed out at Mr. Roberts and at the bar. A Facebook post circulated images of someone posing comically, supposedly at the Green River Bar, while holding a seemingly lifeless wolf. It was flooded with angry comments. A Yelp page for the bar featured several screenshots of local news coverage of the episode, including what appeared to be photos of Mr. Roberts posing with the subdued wolf.
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The post Wyoming Man Accused of Torturing Wolf Is Charged With Animal Cruelty appeared first on New York Times.
