In Brief: Wildlife Groups Mad After Snubbed By Committee

Spokeswomen for two wildlife advocacy groups claim they were ignored during public comment of a Wyoming legislative committee meeting.

However, a legislator who co-chairs the committee said a technical glitch kept some people from commenting over Zoom and that nobody was deliberately ignored.

Wanted To Speak Up About Wolves

Wyoming Wildlife Advocates Executive Director Kristin Combs and Wolves of the Rockies President Kim Bean were linked in over Zoom during a meeting Monday and Tuesday of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee.

They wanted to comment about Wyoming’s wolf management policies.

Their groups have been pushing for reform since news broke of a wolf reportedly being captured, tortured and killed in Daniel.

But they claim that they never got a chance to comment.

Combs forwarded Cowboy State Daily an email from the Legislative Service Office confirming that they were on the list of people expected to comment via Zoom.

She said they were never called on.

“We feel that there is a large segment of the population that isn’t present in the conversation,” she said.

Nobody Left Out On Purpose

Nobody was deliberately ignored during the comment period, committee co-chair Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, told Cowboy State Daily.

Instead, a technical glitch prevented some people from commenting, she said.

“We did have a few of them in the queue” who didn’t get a chance to comment, she said.

However, the committee encourages anybody who missed their chance to log into future meetings or appear in person.

“We never want to exclude anyone from public testimony,” she said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.