Wyoming
Why Wyoming Is One Of Only Two States Without A Zoo
What’s one thing Wyoming and Vermont have in common? Besides being the two least-populated states, they’re the only ones without a zoo.
That’s not counting the wildlife show that is Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, particularly in the summer tourism season when bear and bison jams are common.
And you’re likely to be played by Limpy the Coyote for some sympathetic snacks (don’t feed the wildlife). But the roads aren’t zoos, even if too many tourists treat them like they are.
Wyoming has had several small zoos earlier in its history, like the Pioneer Park Zoo in Sheridan, but they’ve been gone for decades.
Anyone who wants to see lions and tigers must go out of state, although there are plenty of Wyoming bears people can see, but to behind the safety of an enclosure.
That’s why there won’t be any Wyoming listings like the ones posted by National Land Realty in North Carolina. The real estate company has two zoological properties for sale, complete with small arks of exotic animals.
Anyone buying the 186-acre Zootastic of Lake Norman or the 66-acre Aloha Safari Park, both in North Carolina, will get more than 300 species of exotic animals and the infrastructure to care for, exhibit and potentially profit from them.
The menageries include giraffes, antelope, hyenas and many other critters, in addition to the typical lions, tigers and bears.
If some enterprising Wyomingite decided to buy one of these zoos and move it to the Cowboy State, it would be doable, but difficult.
Among other things, creating a new zoological park in Wyoming would require permits — a lot of permits. But there’s more to it than that.
Domestic, Domesticated And Permitted
Any animals in a Wyoming zoo would fall under the jurisdiction of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and there is a litany of permits and regulations for importing and possessing exotic wildlife.
But the main reason there isn’t a zoo here is that there hasn’t been a sustained effort to establish one.
“Historically, some have tried to (open a private zoo) in the past and not gotten permitted for zoos and wildlife farms,” Game and Fish Lander Region spokesperson Rene Schell told Cowboy State Daily. “But they could, and each animal would be permitted (or prohibited) individually and on a case-by-case basis.”
According to Wyoming law, owning living wildlife requires a permit unless it has been deemed exempt or prohibited.
Exempt animals have been designated as “domestic” or “domesticated,” and there are some exotic animals in both categories.
For instance, the same exemption for cats, dogs, horses and other “domestic animals” includes zebu, a South Asian cattle breed. The state of Wyoming also considers bison domestic, so long as they aren’t wild.
Llamas and alpacas are exempt exotic animals on Wyoming’s domesticated list, which is why they can occasionally be seen on ranches throughout the Cowboy State.
Chinchillas, ostriches, emus, Bactrian and dromedary camels, and zebras are also exempt domesticated animals.
Domestic and domesticated animals are specifically exempt from Game and Fish Chapter 10, which states that “except as otherwise specified or exempted in this regulation, a permit from the department is required prior to importation, possession, confinement or transportation of any living warm-blooded wildlife.”
Any exotic animal that isn’t domestic or domesticated requires extensive permitting to legally enter and stay in Wyoming, let alone as a long-term resident in a zoo or safari park. Pachyderms, felids and unusual ungulates require a permit or two.
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Zooastic of Lake Norman is a 186-acre zoo complex for sale in North Carolina. (Land.com)
Exhibiting Exotics
Patricia Wyer is the director of the Broken Bandit Wildlife Center in Cheyenne. In addition to domestic horses, raccoons and other Wyoming wildlife kept and rehabilitated at her facility, she said she also has some “permitted exotics” that don’t appear on the Cowboy State’s exempt lists.
“We have coatimundis, a crab-eating raccoon from South America and a permitted bobcat,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
But Broken Bandit doesn’t keep these animals with the intent to display them. Wyer doesn’t consider her wildlife center a zoo, nor does Wyoming Game and Fish. Nevertheless, her facility must adhere to the regulations laid out by the department.
“They dictate what our enclosure sizes need to be and what kind of stuff needs to be incorporated in their enclosures,” she said. “They also dictate the required care, from spaying and neutering to microchipping, that kind of stuff.”
There’s no overall permit covering the care and keeping of exotic animals. Instead, Wyer has a specialty permit for each exotic at the center.
Coatimundis are distant relatives of raccoons that live in South America and the southeastern United States. Wyer has to keep her group secure, as they could wreak havoc if they ever escaped.
“In the off chance they were to get out, they could wipe out an entire endangered species,” she said. “They couldn’t survive in the wintertime but could destroy a colony of black-footed ferrets.”
Wyer also said several non-permissible animals, including some zoological staples, are forbidden under state regulations.
“Large cats, like tigers and mountain lions, are not permissible animals (for private ownership),” she said. “I also think some non-native hoofstock are (non-permissible) because they have different diseases that can be transmitted through certain types of animals.”
Many people choose to ignore Wyoming’s laws and regulations, especially if there’s a financial incentive to do so. But Schell said the department hasn’t had many run-ins with exotic animals.
“We have had pet fish released into various ponds around the state,” she said. “We found a caiman in a pond in Cheyenne.”
Passing Permits
So hypothetically, could a Wyomingite buy a complete zoo of exotic animals? Yes, but it’d be a potential nightmare of permitting.
Wyoming State Statute 23-1-302 gives the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission the authority “to regulate or prohibit the importation of exotic species, small game animals, fur-bearing animals, protected animals, game birds, migratory birds, protected birds and fish into Wyoming, and to regulate the importation of big or trophy game animals into Wyoming only for exhibition purposes or for zoos.”
“The Department of Agriculture would oversee those animals defined as livestock or domesticated animals,” Schell said. “Each permit application the Wyoming Game and Fish would receive would be approved case-by-case.”
Essentially, the commission could approve or deny any animal for a Wyoming zoo, even if it’s potentially non-permissible for private ownership. That could be a potential green light for Colossal Biosciences if it ever attempts to rewild wooly mammoths in the Cowboy State.
However, Schell said the permits would be issued to the person, not the animal.
“The permits would not transfer with the sale of the property or business,” she said. “They are assigned to an individual.”
That’s also the case in North Carolina. The person or entity that buys either of the two zoological parks for sale would be required to obtain a Class C- Exhibitor permit from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Wyer said the same process would apply to anyone who wanted to purchase the Broken Bandit Wildlife Center and its animals, but she doesn’t think it would be difficult for the right buyer.
“If somebody were to take over the operation, they would have to be able to be approved and permitted through Wyoming Game and Fish,” she said. “I believe some of the permits require background checks and that kind of stuff, but as long as they’re approved through Wyoming Game and Fish, the transfer wouldn’t be very difficult.”
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The 66-acre Aloha Safari Park in Harnett County, North Carolina, comes complete with everything a new zoo owner needs, including animals. (National Land Realty via Land.com) -
The 66-acre Aloha Safari Park in Harnett County, North Carolina, comes complete with everything a new zoo owner needs, including animals. (National Land Realty via Land.com) -
The 66-acre Aloha Safari Park in Harnett County, North Carolina, comes complete with everything a new zoo owner needs, including animals. (National Land Realty via Land.com) -
The 66-acre Aloha Safari Park in Harnett County, North Carolina, comes complete with everything a new zoo owner needs, including animals. (National Land Realty via Land.com)
We Bought A Zoo
In the 2011 film “We Bought A Zoo,” Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson endure the bureaucratic nitpicks of a strict USDA inspector to open a zoo, enduring through the power of love and family. The movie was loosely based on the true story of the Dartmoor Zoological Park bought by a British family in 2006.
If the same story were to unfold in Wyoming, Damon’s tribulations with the USDA wouldn’t engender much sympathy. He’d know what he was getting into when he signed the dotted line.
Schell said the extensive permitting process ensures a zoo full of exotic animals in Wyoming wouldn’t endanger the state’s native wildlife. Any issues raised by Wyoming Game and Fish or the USDA are necessary to ensure the safety and survival of the animals on both sides of the fence.
“Some parameters that our permitting section would consider are diseases these animals could carry that may threaten the wildlife in the state,” she said, “level of containment difficulty, the level of difficulty to meet humane living conditions for the possessed species, animal and public safety concerns upon escape or illegal release, just to name a few.”
The bottom line is there’s nothing’s stopping someone from establishing a zoo in Wyoming.
The catch is finding someone with the money to do it and patience to plow through a mountain of permitting.
In the meantime, Wyomingites will have to make do watching the plentiful videos of visitors behaving badly around wildlife in Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
Wyoming State Historic Sites Superintendent Sharie Mooney Shada made an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse to speak on the upcoming Immersion in Crow Culture program at Fort Phil Kearny on July 16.
The event begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at the Fort Phil Kearny Interpretive Center.
S. Mooney Shada
The rangers host free, family-friendly evening talks and presentations throughout the summer. Shada said the Native American Student Interpretive Ranger Program has enriched the visitor experience at Fort Phil Kearny. In its fourth year at the fort, the program allows a perspective from the indigenous side of history.
Keep up with events at Fort Phil Kearny by clicking here.
Wyoming
‘Not just coloring tipis,’ experts debate quality of Indian education in Wyoming schools – WyoFile
RIVERTON—Nine years after the Wyoming Legislature passed the Indian Education for All Act, education experts say there is still more work to be done.
“I think it is a key priority across the state. Having grown up in Wyoming as a Native student in an off-reservation school, there was never a priority about learning about either tribe; and I still see that today,” Fremont County School District 21 Superintendent Deb Smith told the Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on Tribal Relations. “And I’m well into my 50s. So I think we need to push more.”
When the Legislature passed the Indian Education for All Act in 2017, lawmakers did not create an office of Indian education similar to the ones already in place in states such as Montana. Now, some experts and tribal members say they hope Wyoming will move in that direction in the future. But regardless of the particulars of future steps, reservation school leaders told lawmakers that the Indian Education for All Act needs more support and better integration into Wyoming schools.
“As a Native person, we shouldn’t always have to be the one advocating on behalf of our tribes,” Smith said. “People that are Wyomingites should know. They should be sharing that great history.”
Fremont County School District 14 Superintendent Blakke Bertram agreed.
“When there are questions on our state assessment that are geared towards Indian Ed. for All, then I’ll know that we’ve taken it serious,” Bertram told the tribal relations committee during its June meeting in Riverton. “I feel like I have yet to see that.”
The Legislature, he pointed out, recently passed new requirements for literacy education — and backed it up with grant funds and rulemaking. “So when we say something’s important, when we put support and money behind it, we’re saying it’s important. Have we really done that for Indian Ed. for All?”
Revisions underway
When she takes Lander fourth graders on their annual tour of the Wind River Reservation, Fremont County School District Native American Liaison Lisa McCart said one of the highlights is often the visit to Sacajawea’s grave. Having read “Naya Nuki,” the kids usually know who Sacajawea is — but seeing her grave, and hearing Fort Washakie Schools Librarian Robin Levin explain the history of disputes over her burial place, is special.
Fremont County School District 1 is not among the schools regularly invited to testify at tribal relations meetings. However, district representatives sat down with the Lander Journal in the days following the meeting.
As the Lander schools’ Native American liaison, McCart explained, her job involves keeping track of all of the district’s Native students and working with the district’s curriculum coordinator to coordinate learning and cultural experiences. McCart invites in tribal experts, organizes field trips, and works with extracurricular clubs in addition to helping Native students get to, stay in and feel supported at school.
Not every Wyoming school district has a significant population of Native American students, or a Native American liaison. Schools like those in Lander, which are close to the Wind River Reservation, have a bit of an advantage when it comes to integrating Indian education into their classrooms, the Lander district’s Curriculum Coordinator Deidre Meyer explained.
Scotty Ratliff, a member of the Wyoming Department of Education’s relatively new Native American Education Cabinet and a former legislator, said the Wyoming Department of Education could do more to provide districts with resources, teaching materials and curriculum to support the implementation of Indian Education for All statewide. Not every school in Wyoming, he pointed out, is close enough to the Wind River Reservation to have easy access to tribal experts.
The Indian Education for All Act requires that the state take another look at its social studies standards related to the act every nine years. Last updated in 2018, the state is currently in the process of putting together those new standards, the department’s Native American Liaison Rob Black told legislators.
Meyer worked in the Montana Office of Indian Education for years before moving to Lander and was at one point the principal of Fort Washakie Elementary School. She is among several Fremont County educators represented on the committee revising those standards.
Beyond her role as her district’s Native American liaison, McCart is also a member of the Wyoming Department of Education’s Native American Cabinet. In particular, she’s involved in an Essential Understandings subgroup that will be reviewing the updates to social studies standards currently underway to ensure they adequately incorporate tribal perspectives and Native American culture and history.
Learning language
Accessing Shoshone and Arapaho language classes also can be difficult for students, especially for those seeking successive years of Shoshone or Arapaho to qualify for the highest tier of Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship, Native American Education Director Roy Brown said. Brown works for Fremont County School District 25, which oversees Riverton schools. Part of the problem is a lack of qualified teachers, Brown and Fremont County School District 38 Superintendent David Holbert noted. Riverton has only ever offered one year of Arapaho language, Brown explained, which means that the district’s students wanting to take Arapaho can’t meet the high-tier Hathaway requirement of two successive years of a foreign language unless they actually take three years of foreign languages.
There are very few available and certified teachers of the Arapaho language, the group of superintendents explained — and even fewer for Shoshone.
McCart recalled that several years ago, Lander pursued its own attempts to bring Northern Arapaho and Shoshone language classes into the district. But, she said, her district found that there are very few people with the appropriate certifications to teach either language as part of a public school class. One of the ideas that she and Meyer have discussed is bringing in tribal elders or others who are fluent in Arapaho and Shoshone outside of a formal class setting, where they might not need to meet the same certification requirements as a teacher but can still help interested students start to learn.
‘[Not just] coloring tipis’
Bertram also challenged the implementation of the current standards for Indian Education for All, even in schools close to the reservation.
“My kids, they go to a neighboring school district, an off-reservation school district. I’ve seen the work that’s going toward Indian Ed. for All in that school district,” Bertram said. “It is not teaching my daughter, my son, about what Indian Ed. for All stands for and what it means to be a Northern Arapaho or Eastern Shoshone tribal member on our reservation.”
He continued: “We’re talking coloring tipis. That’s the kind of stuff we’re seeing on our off-reservation schools when it comes to Indian Ed. for All. And that’s a border school.”
If the district in question had called, Bertram’s district would likely be willing to work with them to share resources, he said.
“I appreciate his passion,” Lisa McCart said of Bertram’s remarks. However, she added, the superintendents at Fremont County school districts meet monthly, and she isn’t aware of any concerns along those lines having been raised at any of those meetings.
McCart and Meyer explained some of the ways Lander schools work to incorporate Indian Education for All into Lander’s curriculum, including reservation tours, cultural events, and the incorporation of Native American literature, history, and legal texts into classes from kindergarten through 12th grade.
For example, a few years ago McCart worked to bring musician and artist Gabriel Ayala, a member of the Yaqui tribe of Arizona, to Lander schools. Ayala worked with a variety of grade levels, McCart said, including teaching kids at Gannett Peak Elementary about the meanings of different symbols in Yaqui culture through an activity that involved the elementary students selecting symbols that would be meaningful to their family and drawing them on a tipi.
“If we weren’t confident in what we’re doing and trying to do in this district, we wouldn’t be vocal at the state level,” Meyer pointed out. “It’s not just coloring tipis.”
To characterize the district’s approach as such, McCart added, “is disrespectful for the [Native] families that choose to be in this district.”
McCart and Meyer noted that communication is key, and they hope Fremont County and Wyoming school districts can work together to ensure all Wyoming students receive an adequate education concerning tribal peoples and issues. If someone has concerns, they said, they both hope they will bring them to them directly so Lander can work to address those concerns.
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