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The organizations promised that a revamped Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act, intended in part to criminalize malice such as Roberts’s, would be introduced by the end of the month. More than 200 organizations have already endorsed this legislative concept.
“We thought the state capitol in Cheyenne was the best place to address the absence of any prohibition on running down wolves with snowmobiles, and we let that debate play out,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “Despite many state lawmakers stepping up to address this obvious deficiency in the law, there was obstruction by other lawmakers and in the end the state is doing nothing material to address this kind of savagery.”
Other states – including neighboring Colorado and also Minnesota, which has more wolves than any state in the lower 48 – forbid this activity without controversy.
“Animal Wellness Action will renew its efforts in Congress to pass the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons (SAW) Act to forbid chasing down and running over wolves and other animals with snowmobiles on federal lands,” added Pacelle. “We’ll work to get that legislation introduced by the end of March. How anyone can defend running over an animal with a snowmobile is beyond belief to me. Where are the heads of the people who excuse this conduct?”
Awareness of the barbaric and cruel practices of “whacking” or “thumping” came to light after revelations about a wolf torture incident committed by Cody Roberts in early 2024. The Wyoming mountain lion trophy hunter and cattle rancher used a snowmobile to run over and capture an adolescent female wolf. Roberts publicly tormented the wolf before patrons at a bar, celebrated the abuse on social media, and shot the animal to death behind a bar in Daniel, Wyo.
Videos of other incidents of running over wildlife, including coyotes, were discovered across cyberspace.
“Using snowmobiles as weapons to run over free roaming wildlife is simply recreational wildlife abuse,” added Elaine Leslie, Ph.D., former chief of biological services for the National Park Service and a representative of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. Dr. Leslie lives in western Colorado, and notes that Colorado explicitly forbids chasing down any wildlife with a motorized vehicle.
“Minnesota has more wolves than any other state in the lower 48, has cattle and dairy farms and ranches across its northern reaches, and is a snowmobiling mecca, so the application of the law is an important practical example of its universal social acceptance,” added Mr. Pacelle. “Its law has been in place for 40 years without even a whiff of controversy.”
"Running over wildlife with snowmobiles is sadistic and bears no resemblance to hunting or other accepted forms of taking of wildlife,” added Pacelle. “This conduct is way outside the norms of acceptable treatment of any animal. Precisely because Wyoming failed to address this issue, we will now pursue a federal legislative response with vigor. The action also decreases confidence that states are adequately handling their responsibilities to protect wolves after removal of the species from the list of federally protected threatened or endangered species.”
ABOUT
Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) whose mission is to help animals by promoting laws and regulations at federal, state and local levels that forbid cruelty to all animals. The group also works to enforce existing anti-cruelty and wildlife protection laws. Animal Wellness Action believes helping animals helps us all. X: @AWAction_News
The Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help animals by helping forge a more humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both. The Center believes helping animals helps us all. X: @TheHumaneCenter
Wayne Pacelle
Animal Wellness Action
+1 443-865-3600
[email protected]
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