Man Stuns Wolf, Muzzles the Suffering Animal and Parades It Around - Things Backfire When He Finally Gets the Attention He Wanted
Stories like this are difficult to report. Christians are meant to be stewards of nature, not sadistic overlords who find joy in torturing God’s creation.
When someone wantonly violates this sacred trust, they deserve to be punished — justice demands it. Justice should be tempered with mercy, but not watered down to a slap on the wrist.
On Wednesday, Cowboy State Daily came into possession of videos obtained by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department showing a captured wolf that had allegedly been run down by a snowmobile, lying on the floor in a bar in Wyoming. The wolf was still alive, its mouth taped shut.
WARNING: The following news reports contain images of animal abuse that some may find offensive.
Cowboy State Daily had obtained a photo of a wolf that was captured and had its mouth taped shut while it was reportedly taken to a local man’s house and a bar in rural Daniel, Wyoming, before it was killed. https://t.co/iEEGGwvuon
— Cowboy State Daily (@daily_cowboy) April 6, 2024
In one of the videos, the wolf, now wearing a black muzzle, can be seen curled up and blinking. “He’s getting ready to get up,” a person can be heard saying. Another clip shows the suffering animal sprawled on the floor, twitching its legs.
The man allegedly responsible for running the wolf down on Feb. 29 was identified by authorities as 42-year-old Cody Roberts of Daniel, Wyoming, in Sublette County, according to Cowboy State Daily.
The wounded wolf in the videos appears to be the same animal seen in a photograph in which Roberts is seen kneeling next to the muzzled animal with a grin on his face and what looks like a beer in his hand.
Previously, the Game and Fish Department confirmed an individual had been cited for illegal possession of a live wolf and fined $250. The criminal was not identified by name at the time, but it appears that Roberts’ name fits the bill.
The incident made the news across the pond in Great Britain. The Guardian ran an article with the title, “Outrage after US hunter who reportedly took wolf in the bar and killed it only fined.” The subtitle read, “Residents call for felony charges after Cody Roberts reportedly taped animal’s mouth shut, took photos and killed it behind the bar.”
Wolves were removed from Wyoming’s endangered species list in 2017 and it is legal to kill them in that area of the state. But Roberts did not kill the wolf on the spot. Instead, he reportedly hauled the wounded animal to a local bar to show off his prowess as the Great White Hunter. Delusions of Hemingway.
Roberts eventually took the wolf behind the bar and put the poor beast out of its misery by shooting it. It was an anonymous tip to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department that put Roberts in the crosshairs of investigators, according to Cowboy State Daily.
The fact that Roberts was fined a couple of hundred dollars for having a live wolf, but has so far escaped punishment for animal cruelty, has caused outrage far and wide. So has the accusation, according to the Guardian, that Wyoming wildlife authorities have kept much of the case under wraps because records on wolves taken in the state are by law not a matter of public record.
WyoFile.com reported that the laws cited by wildlife officials in the state only protect the privacy of people “legally taking a wolf.” That means they may not apply in the case of Roberts, who is accused of flagrantly violating hunting ethics — not to mention common morality.
One citizen launched a petition on Change.org, demanding that Roberts be charged with felony animal cruelty. To date, the petition has drawn more than 80,000 signatures. I hope thousands more sign the petition. I did.
Roberts’ infamy continues to stretch beyond the bounds of rural Wyoming. The New York Post reported that a wounded wolf “was paraded around a Wyoming bar by a hunter before he fatally shot the animal in the parking lot.”
I hope the story keeps spreading. Roberts should not be allowed to live this one down any time soon.
Rest assured that leftists will use Roberts to paint hunters and other outdoorsmen as a bunch of backward bumpkins who like to get drunk and hurt things. The image of Roberts grinning next to a muzzled wolf that had been allegedly run down by a snowmobile — imagine the beast’s broken bones and battered organs, imagine the pain — will serve as fuel to stoke hatred against conservative hunters, especially white males.
It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issue of wolves — some see them as a menace, while others go to great lengths to protect them — taking pleasure in the suffering of a wild animal is not only beneath human dignity, it is an affront to nature and God.
Shame on Cody Roberts.
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