Wyoming town defends wolf killer Cody Roberts who paraded predator in local bar, insisting the animals are a danger to their way of life

City residents must stay out of the ongoing battle over Wyoming rancher Cody Roberts, who killed a wolf after parading it through his local bar with its mouth taped shut.

That is the opinion of his aunt Jeanne Ivie-Roberts, who caused outrage by posing in a wolf skin with duct tape over her own mouth.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Ivie-Roberts, who works at the Green River Bar in the small town of Daniel where the animal was taken, insisted her cousin has done nothing wrong and says townspeople don’t understand the problems wild wolves cause .

“I posted that photo on Facebook knowing it would cause a huge storm,” the 59-year-old said. ‘People have no idea what damage wolves do to livestock and domesticated animals here.

“Cody, his children and the Green River Bar do not deserve the death threats,” she added.

Roberts, 42, was fined $250 for being in possession of a live wolf, sparking outrage among animal rights activists.

He was not punished for the yearling’s death, as it is legal to kill wolves in Wyoming.

Video released Wednesday by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department shows the clearly injured animal lying in the corner of the bar as customers discuss its fate.

“He’s getting ready to go,” a man can be heard saying.

Ivie-Roberts emphasized that only rural people understand the true nature of wolves.

“Have you ever known a farmer who had to go out and kill his child’s horse because it was attacked by a wolf the night before?” she asked.

“Did you lose thousands of dollars in livestock because a pack of wolves went out and killed calves?

“These wolves kill for fun, they don’t just kill their prey and then eat it – they kill for practice.”

Ivie-Roberts said a pack of wolves recently killed 17 elk specifically for sport in the area.

“The wolf attacks the tendon at the back of the animal’s leg or tears open the stomach area, causing the animal to bleed to death,” she said.

Roberts ran over the wolf on a snowmobile on February 29. He then took him to the bar – known locally as GRB – to show off his drinking buddies.

Ivie-Roberts also said she has no problem with taping the wolf’s mouth shut, comparing it to a dog’s snout and pointing out that when wolves were first reintroduced to Wyoming in 1995, they were brought from Canada, muzzled and caged with their legs tied.

“How exactly do you torture a wolf?” she asked. ‘Wolves are bad animals. They destroy our livelihoods.

‘It’s easy to pass judgment from a big city far away, but until you experience the damage these animals can do, you don’t really have room to talk about it.

“We deal with this every day.”

But animal lovers disagree with Ivie-Roberts’ opinion.

“The gray wolf is a misunderstood creature,” Lori Wynn, the CEO of Guardians for Wolves, told DailyMail.com.

‘Wolves are not mindless killers. They balance their own populations by coming into conflict with other packs,” she said, adding that they also avoid humans when possible.

“The innocent wolf that killed Cody mattered,” Wynn added. ‘She was of vital importance to our environment.’

Wynn said wildlife officials in Wyoming recognize that wolves are valuable because they help control the state’s elk overpopulation.

The group has produced a petition change.org calling for Roberts to be punished more severely. More than 100,000 signatures have been collected.

But Ivie-Roberts said that after she posted her now infamous photo on Facebook, her cousin called her and asked “what it felt like to be the second most hated person in the world.”

Cody told her he was in the most rush and thanked her for “taking some of the heat off him.”

Roberts has expressed remorse for his actions and apologized, said TJ Hunt, whose wife Nan owns the Green River Bar.

“He realized he messed up. He wishes he could change what happened, I just told him to stop doing stupid things,” Hunt told DailyMail.com. “I put it down to another dumb kid doing dumb kid things.

“I’ve known him for years, he’s a good boy, I said to him, ‘Cody, start thinking, what the hell are you doing.’

Roberts declined to discuss the matter with DailyMail.com.

Hunt said his wife’s bar is being unfairly singled out and threatened because of reports that Roberts brought the injured wolf into the bar and paraded it around.

“I don’t agree with what Cody did,” Hunt added. ‘He should have just shot the animal on the spot instead of bringing it around while it was still alive and showing it off.

“A lot of hunters around here aren’t too happy with what he did either.”

“Wolves are predatory animals if they pose a danger to a farmer or individual, they should be thrown away, but there is a right way to do that and Cody didn’t do that.

‘But he has a wife and three children and he gets death threats. What he did was stupid and unethical, but I don’t think he should have to live in fear for his family.

Breanna Ball, spokeswoman for Wyoming Game and Fish, told DailyMail.com that the department was “disappointed” by Roberts’ actions and said they “do not reflect our value for wildlife in the state of Wyoming.”

“What we believe in the actions uncovered in this case were, in fact, disrespectful to wildlife and cast a shadow over our state’s proven track record of responsibly managing gray wolf populations. We will not tolerate this behavior.”

Ball further stated that “animal cruelty charges do not apply to predators and wolves are considered predators.”

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon responded to the incident, saying on social media, “Our office has received significant communications regarding an individual’s actions involving a wolf that occurred in Sublette County earlier this winter.

‘I want to make my position on this absolutely clear.

‘Cruelty against any wildlife is absolutely unacceptable. This is not the way anyone should treat any animal.

“I am outraged by this incident, as are thousands of ranchers, ranchers, athletes and sportswomen in Wyoming, and others across the state,” Gordon added.

“I would be disappointed if anyone were to paint Wyoming with a broad brush and suggest that the people of Wyoming condone the reckless, thoughtless and heinous actions of one individual.”

Animal rights groups are calling on the Sublette County sheriff and district attorney to file animal cruelty charges against him.

Sheriff KC Lehr said he could not speak about the incident because it is the subject of an active investigation.