In a case that made worldwide headlines, Roberts ran over, trapped, publicly tormented, and then killed a young female wolf. Here’s the latest on his criminal case. By Kate Chupka Schultz The savage killing of a wolf in Wyoming last year—and the criminal charges now facing Cody Roberts—sparked national outrage and renewed scrutiny of how … Read more
We came up just short in efforts in the House to defend wolves, but plan to block anti-wolf measure in the Senate It was one of the most consequential weeks of the year for Animal Wellness Action and for our mission to reform federal policy for responsible animal protection, public health, and stewardship of wildlife. … Read more
Bipartisan coalition launches renewed effort to ban intentional use of snowmobiles and other vehicles to run down wolves, coyotes, and wildlife on federal lands WASHINGTON — In a bipartisan effort to curb extreme cruelty to wildlife on federal lands, Reps. Val Hoyle, D-Ore., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., today introduced the … Read more
Boebert-backed H.R. 845 would expand extreme wolf-killing practices nationwide Some lawmakers are hellbent on killing wolves, even though they are scarce. These animals provide vital services by reducing disease in deer and elk populations. And they generate tens of millions of dollars for communities in attracting eco-tourists who spend money on wildlife-watching experiences. H.R. 845, a … Read more
And Northern Rockies states also in denial about their cruel policies to wolves Cody Roberts has been arraigned in a Wyoming state court on a felony charge of animal cruelty for his horrific abuse of a young female wolf in early 2024. It’s about time. And it’s no surprise he’s pleading not guilty. The man … Read more
Judge Donald Molloy rebukes the Fish and Wildlife Service for ignoring irresponsible, politically driven state policies that are putting wolves at risk In a detailed and damning 105-page ruling issued yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy in Montana took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to task for illegally denying protections to gray … Read more
MISSOULA, Mont. — Today, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Montana vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) decision refusing to restore Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in the Western United States, siding with Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, Project Coyote, Footloose Montana, the Gallatin Wildlife Association, … Read more
The ‘Great News’ about lobo recovery isn’t that great By Ted Williams The Mexican wolf (“El lobo”), native to Mexico and America’s Southwest, is the most genetically distinct, most imperiled, and smallest subspecies of gray wolf. A big male might weigh 80 pounds. Humans nearly succeeded in wiping lobos off the planet. All alive today … Read more
By Ted Williams You can listen to an AI-generated reading of this story here: On June 18th, conservation groups urged Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court for Montana to overturn a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finding that western gray wolves do not merit listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Administrative … Read more
In the Northern Rockies, the war on wolves has spiraled into a state-sanctioned bloodbath. We’re leading the legal charge to restore protections before it’s too late. You can listen to an AI-generated reading of this story here: We consider it our duty to stand in the way of people possessed with hatred in their hearts … Read more
Press Release Federal government allows ruthless exploitation of wolves, fails to prevent assault Washington, D.C. — Following an earlier Notice of Intent to Sue, a coalition of organizations has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for its refusal to give Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to the gray wolves in … Read more
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 … Read more
Washington, D.C. — On April 30, the U.S. House of Representatives very narrowly passed H.R. 764 to eliminate federal protections under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves across their range in the United States. The bill, led by U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., passed 209-205 (Roll Call #169), with four Democrats favoring it and … Read more
Press Release Rundown and torture of Wyoming wolf a reminder to the nation that state politicians are calling the shots and cannot be trusted to responsibly handle wolves in their states. Washington, D.C. — On the heels of the recent drawn-out torture of a captured and bound gray wolf, a coalition of organizations has filed … Read more
Press Release Torture of the young adolescent female wolf was ‘remorseless’ and violated a ‘solemn responsibility,’ Dr. Keen tells Wyoming Game and Fish Commission at today’s hearing. Cheyenne, WY — Dr. Jim Keen, DVM, Ph.D., urged commissioners with the Game and Fish Commission to revamp the state’s archaic, counterproductive wolf-killing policies and adopt a responsible … Read more
Torture of young adolescent female wolf, battered and then killed, has shocked the conscience of people across the world. Denver, CO — The Center for a Humane Economy is offering a $15,000 reward to any individual who provides additional evidence to police and prosecutors about Cody Roberts that results in his being sentenced to at … Read more
National Law Enforcement Council compels prosecution of Cody Roberts for high-level crime Washington, D.C. — The National Law Enforcement Council of Animal Wellness Action and the Animal Wellness Foundation called on Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr and County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich to collaborate and advance a case of felony animal cruelty against a Wyoming man … Read more
Condemnations of Cody Roberts must be backed up with common-sense policies Washington, D.C. — While animal-welfare groups today applauded Gov. Mark Gordon for expressing “outrage” about “reckless, thoughtless and heinous actions” from one individual, it is essential that the follow-up include practical legal reforms to prevent a recurrence of this kind of savagery. The governor … Read more
No exemption protects Daniel man who bound, tortured an adolescent wolf, including parading injured animal at area bar before killing it. Pinedale, WY — A legal analysis by the general counsel for two national animal-welfare groups says that contrary to news reports, no legal exemption shields Daniel, Wyo., resident and trucking-company owner Cody Roberts from … Read more
Animal Wellness Action urges Sublette County Attorney and Sheriff to bring felony-level animal cruelty charges against perpetrator. Pinedale, WY — Animal welfare groups expressed revulsion and outrage in the wake of news concerning a Wyoming man who ran over a wolf with his snowmobile, taped its mouth shut, tormented it, and paraded the injured animal … Read more
In most states, wild wolves continue to be treated as gang members of the wilderness — as a scourge of the landscape, marauders of livestock, and menaces of the cash cows (elk and deer) of the modern hunting and trapping establishment. Idaho allows wolves to be shot from helicopters and ATVs; Montana hunters and trappers … Read more
We secured the most important reforms ever against animal testing, while ending legal animal fighting and commercial cub-petting throughout U.S. The year 2022 turned out to be a remarkable one for the Center for a Humane Economy, Animal Wellness Action, and the Animal Wellness Foundation. We secured many tangible gains. We put a punctuation mark … Read more
San Francisco, CA. — Animal Wellness Action (AWA), and the Center for a Humane Economy (CHE), and affiliates applauded a U.S. District Court for doing away with a last-minute Trump administration rule removing wolves from the Endangered Species Act and restoring protections for the species across most of the lower 48 states. AWA, CHE, the … Read more
Cam Sholly, the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, had the right sales pitch but knocked on the wrong door. On December 16th, he wrote to Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and asked him to stop allowing private hunters and trappers to bait the borders of Yellowstone and to kill wolves who wander from the safe confines … Read more
Boise – A set of conservation and animal protection groups, including Animal Wellness Action, the ZooMontana, and the Western Watershed Project, today called on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to close down wolf hunting and trapping in the Caribou-Targhee, Bridger-Teton, Custer Gallatin, and Shoshone national forests surrounding Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to … Read more
Boise, Idaho – A set of wildlife and animal welfare groups, including Animal Wellness Action, the Idaho Conservation League, and ZooMontana, called on National Park Service Director Charles Sams to work with Interior Secretary Haaland to issue an emergency listing of wolves under the Endangered Species Act in response to the immense toll taken on … Read more
Legal Challenge That Stayed Hunt Now to Continue Beyond the February End-Date for Wolf Hunting MADISON, WISCONSIN – Judge Jacob B. Frost and plaintiffs and defendants have agreed to a briefing schedule over the next few months to allow for a final order in a case brought to oppose the fall 2021 wolf hunting season. … Read more
Wildlife protection groups takes action after picking up internet chatter from wolf hunters that they will “take the law into [their] own hands” after a state court shut down wolf hunt MADISON, Wis. — Animal Wellness Action offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the successful prosecution of anyone engaged in illegal poaching of … Read more
The assault on wolves is the most obvious example of inattention to the core American value of caring for animals The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in recently announcing the opening or expansion of 910 new opportunities for hunting or fishing on national wildlife refuges, could hardly contain its pride. “This final rule,” the agency … Read more
If Any Appeals Are Denied, Decision Could Spare Hundreds of Wolves There hasn’t been much good news for wolves in 2021 – until now. On Friday night, October 22nd, a Wisconsin judge issued, according to a description from a state assistant attorney general, a “dramatic decision” that blocks the state’s plan to turn hunters loose on … Read more
Press Release Decision could spare hundreds of wolves targeted for killing MADISON, Wis. — In the biggest news so far for wolf protection in the United States in 2021, a court in Wisconsin issued an injunction today requiring the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to set the quota at zero wolves for the upcoming … Read more
Press Release The animals were all placed for adoption by the Bureau of Land Management’s adoption programs, which put federally protected equines at risk of slaughter Madison, WI. — Today lawyers for Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf and Wildlife, Project Coyote and Wisconsin resident Pat Clark … Read more
The Biden Administration is fiddling while wolves die. Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced a “status review” would proceed in response to two petitions for emergency listing of wolves in the West – including one joined by Animal Wellness Actioin and the Center for a Humane Economy. The petitions were spurred by the … Read more
Press Release Madison, WI. — Today Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf and Wildlife, and Project Coyote sued the state of Wisconsin over its reckless and politically motivated decision to authorize a quota of 300 wolves for the November wolf hunt, on top of the 218 known … Read more
A small segment of Americans nearly wiped out wolves from the states in a scorched earth plan executed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Private actors and government agents killed countless hundreds of thousands of wolves, and just hundreds managed to hang on in the boreal forests of the northeast quadrant of Minnesota. Starting in … Read more
Washington, D.C. — On July 23, 2021, the Sault St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and a coalition of 14 conservation groups, many centered in the Great Lakes region, sought leave from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to submit an amicus (friend of the court) brief that the U.S. Fish … Read more
President Biden indicated, in an appearance last week on the YouTube program “Brave Wilderness” that focuses on connecting young people to the great outdoors, that he’s alert to the plight of wolves in the United States. He pledged that he’s deeply connected to animals and the natural world and his Administration may do something to remedy the … Read more
We humans are capable of so much good. Behaviors borne from our better angels are so often on display, with innumerable acts of kindness quietly conducted day by day. That was in evidence in dramatic fashion just the other day, when the Thailand Navy got word of a burning private vessel and sent one of … Read more
It’s hard to fathom what Wisconsin just did to its endangered wolves. After a brief but confusing legal fight — where the state’s own Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recommended against a winter hunt that overlaps with the mating season for wolves — state authorities turned loose trophy hunters, hound hunters, and trappers to kill … Read more
Madison, Wis. — Today, Scott Edwards, general counsel of Animal Wellness Action, issued the following statement in response to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Board narrowly rejecting an unprecedented and reckless February trophy hunt and commercial trapping season for wolves. The effort was mounted by Republican state lawmakers in response to a November 3rd Trump Administration action removing … Read more
The plan, if implemented, would lead to wholesale killing of wolves, especially in Great Lakes states Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are swing states in presidential politics. They are also wolf states — with the family-oriented gray wolves stalking the boreal forests in search of deer and moose and beavers in their northern reaches. President Trump’s … Read more
A tranche of newly disclosed documents reveals rot at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (the Department) and reckless oversight and killing of the state’s endangered wolves. According to documents submitted in a King County court case — which just came to light on January 9th — the Department contracted with cattle ranchers Arron and Jolene Scotten … Read more
Even Foresighted Politicians Face Pushback from State Wildlife Agencies Rigged in Favor of Trophy Hunters and Ranchers Washington Governor Jay Inslee flashed his animal-protection credentials in wading into the ongoing battle over wolf management, signaling to his state Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department), in not so many words, that it’s killing too many wolves … Read more
Press Release Inslee takes action after the state issues kill orders on a set of wolf packs who came into conflict with ranchers on public lands KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON — The Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action applauded Washington Governor Jay Inslee for writing to the Director of Fish and Wildlife and directing … Read more
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (“the Department”) has been allowing the baiting and killing of endangered wolves. It’s also allowing the baiting and hound hunting of black bears despite a voter-approved ballot measure that forbids these practices except in extreme circumstances. Department personnel will emphatically deny they are allowing baiting. But the facts, … Read more
During proceeding that resulted in a preliminary injunction on killing more OPT wolves, attorneys for the state yesterday told a Superior Court judge that there was a lone surviving wolf KING COUNTY — A judicial proceeding yesterday morning before a King County Superior Court Judge produced a temporary injunction to spare a single Old Profanity … Read more
State has now killed 25 wolves in the Colville National Forest on behalf of Diamond M Ranch KING COUNTY — A King County Superior Court Judge granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop killing members of the Old Profanity Territory (OPT) pack Friday, just hours after the state … Read more
Department of Fish and Wildlife Officials Have Killed 18 Wolves in the Colville National Forest on Behalf of a Single Rancher KING COUNTY — This morning, two Washington residents, with the support of the Center for a Humane Economy, filed a legal action in Washington Superior Court in King County to stop Washington Department of … Read more
Research shows “smart grazing” and non-lethal methods will reduce depredation incidents and allow wolves to live in habitats well suited for them Washington, DC — The Center for a Humane Economy and Animal Wellness Action launched an advertising campaign that began yesterday in Washington to protect wolves, with a full-page ad appearing in Sunday’s Seattle … Read more
Many animal advocates know that cattle production is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Methane and other gases from cattle are adding fuel to the warming crisis, threatening the economy and ecology of the planet in ways small and large. There’s also the more specific set of impacts of cattle grazing on … Read more