The Verdict

Or Justice Served?

Earlier this year I chronicled the awful story of a young gray wolf who was cruelly mistreated, had her muzzle bound with tape, was paraded around a bar full of drunks, and later shot, finally ending her misery. I’ll say it up front: I know no one cares, as usual, but I wrote this article for my soul because I’m so pissed off.

The perpetrator of this heinous act is a man named Cody Roberts. His animal cruelty trial attracted international attention and not a small amount of outrage. This week, Cody learned his fate:

This non-contrite asshole will only pay a pittance and serve probation amounting to nothing, avoiding two years in jail and a $5,000 fine. I mean, who’s going to enforce this? Do we really think Cody has the honor and conviction to correct himself? While I personally don’t believe justice was served to the manner in which I’d have liked and disagree with the outcome, it isn’t accurate to say the legal system didn’t do its job. But I believe there are larger issues than just Cody’s bullshit sentence.

Cody went to trial, had his case heard in a court of law, and the case is settled in accordance with the laws of the State of Wyoming. Thus, he’s a felon, and justice was served via due process. But what it means is that a true human piece of shit got off with a light sentence because the laws permit him to do so.

For the presiding judge, it wasn’t that Cody killed a wolf—Wyoming laws allow him to do that as much as he’d like and on-sight—it was that Cody is cruel and the judge found that disturbing. Not enough to put him in jail for the essentially pre-meditated murder of an animal, but awful nonetheless.

Really? Really.

I pondered that the bigger issue is the laws allowing for the wanton slaughter of wolves, but then I realized it isn’t.

The issue is not only the system which permits it, but that Cody is an example of humanity debased. And it’s not just Cody. It’s the method in which he committed the act. It’s the people around him who took the photos and videos. The same people who enabled him and cheered him on is the point. It’s an issue of indifference to suffering. It’s an issue of blatant cruelty. And the judge, concluding he wasn’t swayed by public opinion and only examined the facts of the case in delivering his punishment, is equally complicit.

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Great job, Cody. What a paragon you are in your community. It sickens me that I fought for this country that created this system which allows you to do what you do within a country that pissed away the greatest opportunity a nation ever had as we destroy the Environmental Protection Agency, remove the Endangered Species Act, and shutter the doors of the U.S. Forest Service.

Fuck it, I know: Let’s put Cody Roberts in the Trump Administration. No one needs any qualifications to function in any part of it and the more ignorant you are the better. Felons leading felons.

As we legislate away our public lands and forests, nothing matters anymore. We are losing sight of who we are in the interest of maintaining the bottom line in the pursuit of profits by building more suburbs and data centers. People will say, “Ivan, we can’t save it all.” By that metric, why save anything, wolves, forests, or otherwise? Just get it over with.

Yep, this is happening. PC: The New Yorker Magazine.

Maybe we can come back to a balance with nature, maybe even one wolf at a time. Or maybe we can pop a nuke and accelerate the end.

Either way, we are losing as a species.

The wolves will thank us.

Thanks for sticking with me.

One of the few books that tells it like it is. And that’s not just because I wrote it. Drop that 5-STAR review!