CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming game wardens are pushing state lawmakers to make some game violations felonies, arguing that poachers face minimal fines while at times making hundreds of thousands of dollars off illegally taken wildlife.
Daniel Beach of the wardens’ association said Wyoming should make wildlife violations with a value of over $1,000 a felony. Those would include sale of illegally killed wildlife, providing false identification or other information to get a license and offering unlicensed guiding and outfitting services.
Beach earlier this month addressed members of the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim Committee in Cheyenne.
“We’re just basically trying to do that so we don’t have to piecemeal regulations and current statutes together to try to charge people for wildlife crimes,” Beach said. “Especially at a level where these guys are making thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars selling illegal wildlife parts, selling landowner licenses, selling illegal guide services, and making just a ton of money.”
The committee directed legislative staffers to draw up a bill on the issue for consideration ahead of next year’s general legislative session.
“The warden’s association is pushing to get a felony statute at the $1,000 level, which is the same for property damage, theft, check fraud, all that kind of stuff,” Beach said.
There’s already a federal law making it a felony to trade in poached wildlife across state lines but Beach said Wyoming wardens want to be able to handle cases that occur entirely within the state and don’t want to have to rely on federal authorities to make their cases.
Beach said there have been instances in the state where illegal outfitting operations have made hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the current state law limits fines against such operators to just a few thousand dollars, if and when they’re caught and convicted.
“If you’re a criminal, why wouldn’t you break the law?” Beach said. “It all goes back to risk and reward. That’s why we’re trying to get it at the felony level.”
Modern poaching is big business, Beach said. He said that back in the 1970s and 1980s, poachers were commonly taking animals for their own freezers. These days, he said it’s all about trophy heads that can sell for thousands of dollars on the black market, regardless of their origin.
“In nine years of being a game warden, I’ve had one case - one, out of hundreds of cases - where a guy actually killed it with the intent to eat something,” Beach said. “All the other cases are for antlers, horns, skulls - stuff that has monetary value. Certainly not something they’re trying to survive on. It’s a different world and I think it requires different penalties.”
Rep. Sam Krone, R-Cody, said he plans to sponsor the legislation if the committee won’t push it.
“I don’t think there’s a huge amount of it going on in Wyoming,” Krone said of the illegal wildlife trade. “But the issue is when it does happen, and it’s not on the federal government’s wildlife and fisheries radar, there’s really not much the state can do.”
Krone said he expects the legislation will get wide support from Wyoming sportsmen and the public.
Bob Wharff, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife group, said his members would support such penalties.
But Wharff said the illegal outfitting portion of the bill must be carefully crafted so it doesn’t snag Wyoming residents who take out-of-state friends and relatives hunting in the state.
“There’s the potential that the net could be cast too broadly in that area,” Wharff said.
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