Man Agrees to Plea DeaI in Wyoming Wolf Torture Case
In this 2018 file photo, a wolf is seen in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (Ryan Dorgan/Jackson Hole News & Guide via AP, File)
A Wyoming man accused of striking a wolf with a snowmobile, taping the injured animal’s mouth shut, and displaying it in a rural bar before killing it has agreed to a plea deal that will allow him to avoid a trial and possible prison sentence, according to the Associated Press.
Cody Roberts reached an agreement with Sublette County prosecutors last week. Under the deal, filed in court Wednesday, he will pay a $1,000 fine and serve 18 months of probation. If convicted at trial, Roberts could have faced up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine on a felony animal cruelty charge. His trial had been scheduled for March 9.
The incident took place in February 2024 near Daniel, Wyoming, a town of about 150 residents roughly 50 miles south of Jackson. The case drew national attention and criticism, along with renewed scrutiny of Wyoming’s predator laws.
Roberts was indicted in August 2025 by a 12-person grand jury on one count of felony animal cruelty, nearly a year and a half after the incident. The indictment followed public backlash after Roberts previously paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife but initially avoided more serious charges as investigators struggled to secure cooperative witnesses.
According to court documents, under the plea agreement signed Feb. 17, Roberts will plead guilty or no contest to the felony animal cruelty charge. As part of his probation, he will be prohibited from consuming alcohol, entering bars or liquor stores, and hunting or fishing.
Photos that circulated widely on social media showed a man identified as Roberts posing with the wolf, its mouth bound with tape, inside a bar near Daniel on Feb. 29, 2024. Video clips also showed the animal lying on the floor, still alive but barely moving.
The earlier light penalty prompted some calls for a boycott of Wyoming tourism. However, the boycott appeared to have little measurable impact. Yellowstone National Park recorded its second-busiest year on record in 2024, with visitation rising more than 5% compared to 2023.
Wyoming law allows broad authority to kill wolves and other predators across most of the state. Wolves were nearly eliminated in the lower 48 states through government-sponsored poisoning, trapping, and bounty hunting in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A reintroduction effort beginning in the 1990s restored wolf populations in parts of the West, including Yellowstone and central Idaho. While wolves remain federally listed as endangered or threatened in much of the country, they do not have that protection in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, where hunting and trapping are permitted under state law.
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