Months after the incident, a relative of the Wyoming man who injured and then allegedly tortured a wolf before killing it is defending his actions.
Jeanne Ivie-Roberts, whose nephew Cody Roberts is at the center of the controversy, told the Daily Mail that "it's easy to judge from some big city far away, but until you experience the damage that can be done by these animals, you really don't have room to speak on it."
"How exactly do you torture a wolf? Wolves are evil animals. They destroy our livelihoods," Ivie-Roberts said and argued that only people who live in the country understand the animals. "We have to deal with this every day," she added.
Of course, Ivie-Roberts seems to be one of the only people willing to defend Roberts' actions. Wildlife experts would describe her views as misguided. Experts with the National Park Service say wolves help promote biodiversity in that wolves will eat overpopulated species and in turn, create a balanced ecosystem.
News of the Feb. 29 incident broke when local media reported a story about a man from Daniel, Wyoming, who paid a $250 fine for keeping a live wolf. A month later, the story developed further when rumors about the incident began to surface.
According to reports, Roberts injured the wolf by running it down with a snowmobile and then taped its mouth shut and brought the animal to his home and then to a bar before killing it. Then, as public interest grew, images emerged of Roberts posing with the wounded animal.
Later state wildlife officials released videos of the incident via a records request showing the wolf inside the bar. In one of the more egregious videos, Roberts is seen laughing at the animal's distress and kissing it.
According to a report by WyoFile, the bar patron who leaked the initial photo and wants to remain anonymous out of safety concerns described Roberts as being a "jokester" as the young wolf was "just sitting there bleeding to death."
"People were petting it, taking photos of it, hugging on it," the person told WyoFile. "I want to be clear: He wasn't kicking or beating or torturing it. The torture was in not putting it down when he ran it over."
In all, the person said there were about 30 people at the bar that night, half of which appeared to be either Roberts' friends or family.
Besides the wolf killing and alleged torture, what enraged the public so much was the fact that state authorities said they could not charge Roberts for his behavior beyond the $250 ticket.
Since wolves were delisted from endangered status, Wyoming lawmakers removed all limits to the killing of wolves in designated "predation zones," which make up about 85% of the state.
Although state wildlife officials say Roberts cannot be charged with state animal cruelty laws because wolves are exempted from the statutes, the case is being investigated by the Sublette County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction over the area where Roberts resides.
