By Susan Monaghan
Gillette News Record
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

GILLETTE — A new bill coming through this year’s legislative session would amend the state’s animal cruelty statute to specify that predatory animals must be killed immediately if they’re intentionally hit using an automotive vehicle.

In addition to tweaking who’s authorized to impose misdemeanor animal cruelty charges and their fines, House Bill 3 would ban keeping an animal alive after it’s been intentionally injured with an “automotive vehicle, motor‑propelled wheeled vehicle, or vehicle designed for travel over snow.”

“Whacking” refers to a practice where a predatory animal, such as a wolf or coyote, is hunted and run over, often with a snowmobile. This practice would still be legal if House Bill 3 passes.

The bill comes in the aftermath of the now internationally-known case where a Daniel, Wyoming, man, Cody Roberts, took a wolf he’d injured to a nearby bar to show the still-alive animal off before killing it in February 2024.

The practice, and Wyoming’s animal cruelty policies, earned significant attention.

Roberts was not charged with animal cruelty at the time, as the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said that the statute doesn’t apply to animals the state considers predators.

Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, is the senate chair of the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife & Cultural Resources Committee that’s sponsoring the bill. He said the bill is “very appropriate” and addressed his constituent’s concerns about how the Roberts case reflected on Wyoming hunters.

“In a general sense, I think this bill is worthy of introduction and we’ll see where it goes,” Landen said Friday afternoon. “(Some of) the reaction to this situation that occurred last year … came from my constituents, who said this gives a bad name to sportsmen.”

The new language in the state’s animal cruelty statute would specify that whackers “immediately use all reasonable efforts to kill the injured or disabled predatory animal,” and specifies a court has the authority to revoke or suspend the licenses for a set period of time of hunters who violate the clause.

Other changes to the statute include raising the fine for a misdemeanor first offense of animal cruelty from $750 to $1,000 and authorizing the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to enforce not only the new whacking rules, but any misdemeanor animal cruelty offense.

Currently, Game and Fish wardens enforce regulations for hunting, trapping and fishing throughout the state, but it may come as a surprise to some Wyoming residents that the department doesn’t currently have the authority to enforce the state’s animal cruelty statutes.

A new subsection in state law would change that, specifying “In addition to any other peace officer with authority to enforce this article, game and fish law enforcement personnel … are authorized to enforce the provisions of W.S. 6‑3‑1002(b) and 6‑3‑1004,” referring to the statutes addressing the new whacking rules and misdemeanor animal cruelty penalties.

Landers said those pieces of the bill may change as they move through the Legislature.

“One (aspect) I think will no doubt be debated is the enforcement side of things,” Landen said, adding that enforcement procedure — along with fine penalties — might look different after debate.