Animal rights fanatics are trying to cancel the state of Wyoming over anonymous reports about a man seriously injuring, and then publicly displaying a grey wolf, before finally killing it. But they're completely missing out on the facts while swimming in a pool of feels, as usual.
via the AP:
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — As Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming opens for the busy summer season, wildlife advocates are leading a call for a boycott of the conservative ranching state over laws that give people wide leeway to kill gray wolves with little oversight.
The social media accounts of Wyoming’s tourism agency are being flooded with comments urging people to steer clear of the Cowboy State amid accusations that a man struck a wolf with a snowmobile, taped its mouth shut and showed off the injured animal at a Sublette County bar before killing it.
....[A] leader of the state’s stock growers association said it’s an isolated incident and unrelated to the state’s wolf management laws. The laws that have been in place for more than a decade are designed to prevent the predators from proliferating out of the mountainous Yellowstone region and into other areas where ranchers run cattle and sheep.
“This was an abusive action. None of us condone it. It never should never have been done,” said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and a Sublette County rancher who has lost sheep to wolves. “It’s gotten a lot of media attention but it’s not exemplary of how we manage wolves to deal with livestock issues or anything.”
Here's one of the progressives screaming for a boycott and a "rewrite" of state law (do I really need to tell you which part of the West she hails from? Hint: It's not Wyoming.):
Saharai Salazar is among out-of-staters changing their travel plans based on what allegedly happened Feb. 29 near Daniel, a western Wyoming town of about 150 people.
The Santa Rosa, California, dog trainer posted on the state’s tourism Instagram account that she would not get married in Wyoming next year as planned. The post was among hundreds of similar comments, many with a #boycottwyoming hashtag on social media in recent weeks.
“We have to change the legislation, rewrite the laws so we can offer more protection, so they can’t be interpreted in ways that will allow for such atrocities,” Salazar said in an interview.
So typical of lefties; they know little to nothing about whatever alleged atrocity they feel passionate about correcting. Wyoming has, in fact, been successful in helping the animals thrive. The way they're hollering, you'd think wolves were endangered:
Wyoming’s rules have long invited controversy but are unlikely to harm the overall population because most of the animals in the state live in the Yellowstone region, said wolf expert and former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf biologist Ed Bangs.
Bangs said the incident of the wolf brought into the bar was a “sideshow” to the species’ successful recovery. The predator zone is made up largely of open landscapes that generally don’t support wolves, he said.
Wyoming’s rules, including the predator zone, have withstood multiple court challenges that have put wolves on and off the endangered species list since they were first delisted in 2008.
The boycott talk is unlikely to lead to any changes in the law, in other words; it's just a distraction, and the latest activist hashtag stunt. While local authorities work to authenticate the facts of the case, leftists only seem to care about punishing an entire state just because it's conservative.
Widely circulating photos show the man posing with the wolf with its mouth bound. Video clips show the same animal lying on a floor, alive but barely moving.
The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office said it has been investigating the anonymous reports of the man’s actions but has struggled to get witnesses to come forward.
At the time of this writing, the man has been charged with illegal possession of wildlife, which carries a punishment of $250.
A spokesman for the sheriff, Sgt. Travis Bingham said authorities hoped to build more of a case but have not had the public's cooperation:
We’ve had the tip line open for two weeks hoping for witnesses or something helpful. I know there’s some hesitation for people to come forward.
As AP's report accidentally revealed in the lede, it's no coincidence that this is happening right when the high summer tourism season starts for national parks like Yellowstone. Despicable.