More intelligence on Cody Roberts’ savagery may help in prompting filing of animal cruelty charges by Sublette County Attorney’s Office
Washington, D.C. — The Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action have doubled their reward — now totaling $30,000 — for information that leads to the arrest, conviction, and sentencing of Cody Roberts for at least one year in prison.
Roberts is the Daniel, Wyo. resident who shocked the conscience of the nation for his abuse of Theia, the posthumously named wolf he ran over with a snowmobile. Roberts tortured the young female wolf in front of patrons at the Green River Bar, and then he killed her after she endured much suffering.
“Stalling in the Roberts’ case is not sitting well with millions of Americans who demand justice for horrific and intentional acts of cruelty against a young female wolf by Cody Roberts,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. “We treat it as a solemn responsibility to remind law enforcement of the statutes at their disposal and to provide incentives to witnesses to report details of Roberts’ malicious acts against an innocent animal. This man is a danger to the community, and no reward payments are too high for information that facilitates his prosecution.”
The reward is now $30,000, and anyone with information that may result in a successful criminal case may contact animalcrueltytips@animalwellnessaction.org. The reward will be divided proportionately among tipsters if multiple people step forward with reliable information.
Thanks to Principled Witnesses, Cody Roberts’ Savagery is Known. We Ask Others to Step Forward with Information
The serial acts of cruelty played out over hours in late February were made public thanks to witnesses who described Roberts’ abuses and released photos of the bound, debilitated, and grievously wounded adolescent female wolf.
Weeks ago, Roberts was fined $250 for possessing live wildlife, but that penalty is universally recognized as insufficient and not proportional to his crimes. Sublette County officials announced that they have opened an investigation, but no charges tied to the abuse have been filed.
One source shared a photo with a Wyoming news outlet in which Roberts is posing with the bound, defeated animal while holding what appears to be a can of beer. Other sources provided video of the grievously injured animal unable to move at a bar. The Center for a Humane Economy has compiled some of these images in a short video.
The Washington D.C.-based groups issued a legal analysis detailing that no legal exemption shields Roberts from being charged under the state’s animal cruelty statute, which allows for felony-level penalties.
Wyoming Must Ban the Use of Snowmobiles to Run Down Wolves
In addition to demanding a successful prosecution of Roberts, the Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action are calling on Wyoming officials to ban the use of snowmobiles and other motorized vehicles to run down wolves and other “predatory animals.”
Animal welfare groups along with a larger coalition of organizations have also announced their intent to take U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to federal court to restore federal protections for wolves given the insufficiency of Wyoming’s limitations on killing wolves.
Groups are also vigorously opposing a bill in Congress that would delist wolves across all of their range in the Lower 48 states.
“You just cannot have delisting of wolves if you allow people to run down wolves with snowmobiles, set them on fire, or kill them by other horrific and extreme methods outside the bounds of civilized conduct,” added Pacelle. “Savage behavior toward wolves must trigger restored federal protections, because the animals are put at risk of extirpation by the combination of the absence of limits on killing wolves across much of their range and the irrational hatred toward wolves exhibited by a small number of people in Wyoming. Wyoming must take action to protect wolves or lose its authority to manage them.”
Pacelle and others recently hosted a webinar on the Cody Roberts case and national efforts to protect wolves. It may be viewed here.