Animal lovers are howling mad over the treatment of an injured wolf that was photographed in a bar with its muzzle taped shut before being killed.
The disturbing image was published by an online outlet Monday, which said it was shot in rural Daniel, Wyoming.
In the photo, the doomed critter had its eyes downcast and red tape wrapped around its snout as a grinning man -- identified by Cowboy State Daily, which published the image, as Cody Roberts, 42, of Daniel -- kneeled next to it while clutching a beverage in one hand and wrapping his other arm around the helpless animal's neck.
Rob Wallace, a former U.S. assistant interior secretary who lives in Teton County, Wyoming, said he was "sickened" by seeing it.
"This is awful," Wallace told Cowboy State Daily. "Wyoming represents the best in wildlife stewardship and this is a sad and disgusting outlier."
The wolf was run over by a snowmobile on Feb. 29 by a man who took it to his home and the Green River Bar before killing it behind the tavern, Cowboy State Daily reported last week.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department told the outlet that it got an anonymous tip that someone "was alleged to be in possession of a live wolf" which "was transported alive back to his residence and later to a business in Daniel" after it was captured in the state's "predator zone."
"The individual euthanized the wolf later that day. The individual was cited for violating Chapter 10, Importation and Possession of Live Warm-Blooded Wildlife," the department said.
Officials didn't identify the man but Sublette County Circuit Court records show Roberts was cited for a wildlife violation stemming from the Feb. 29 incident, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Roberts was reportedly fined $250 and wasn't slapped with additional charges because it's legal to kill a wolf at any time without a permit in Wyoming's Predatory Animal Management Area, which covers about 85% of the state outside its northwestern corner.
But two Washington, D.C.-based animal rights groups, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for Humane Economy, asked Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich and Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr to file animal cruelty charges, Cowboy State Daily reported Friday.
In a letter, the groups called the $250 fine "an anemic response on the part of law enforcement" that "can only motivate other like-minded individuals driven by hatred of wolves to engage in similar, repugnant behavior."
Melinkovich reportedly confirmed receipt of the letter but said it's unclear if criminal charges were possible, adding, "I can't do anything independently on my own until something comes to me from a peace officer."
