Wyoming

Anthrax Outbreak In Wyoming Sparks Health Warning—Here’s What To Know

Published

2 years ago

September 5, 2024

Anthrax Outbreak In Wyoming Sparks Health Warning—Here’s What To Know

Topline

An outbreak of anthrax—a deadly bacterial disease feared as a potential bioweapon—among cattle and wildlife in Wyoming has killed dozens of animals, and health officials are urging people to take care as experts investigate what marks the first outbreak of its kind in the state in decades.

Dozens of cattle have died due to anthrax in Wyoming.

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Key Facts

The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory has confirmed a case of anthrax in a dead moose in Carbon County, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said in a statement.

The discovery marks the first time the deadly bacterial disease has been confirmed in wildlife in Wyoming in decades—the last case was reported in 1956—and the state agency said the moose is “the only documented case reported in wildlife at this time.”

Anthrax has also been found in nearby cattle in Carbon County, officials said, the first confirmed infections in Wyoming cattle since the 1970s.

The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory confirmed the diagnosis in late August and said anthrax had been found in cattle from multiple herds around the Elk Mountain region.

Wyoming State Veterinarian Hallie Hasel told Cowboy State Daily at least 50 cattle have died due to anthrax, warning that losses may climb as officials determine the full extent of the outbreak.

Hasel said the outbreak appears to be limited to a localized region at this time and the Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department said it “will continue to monitor the situation and assess impacts to wildlife.”

Does Anthrax Pose A Risk To Humans?

Though “human cases are rare,” Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department said “precautions are warranted” in light of the outbreak. To limit the risk of anthrax exposure, Wyoming officials advised hunters and the public to stay away from any dead cattle or wildlife they encounter, to avoid harvesting sick-looking animals and to avoid picking up any roadkill in the Elk Mountain area, as well as to wear gloves while field dressing or handling harvested animals. The agency also advised owners of dogs, horses and other pets to keep the animals away from any carcasses they might encounter and urged anyone encountering dead wildlife to take a note of its location and report the findings. Health experts and organizations recommend seeking medical attention if anthrax exposure is suspected and antibiotics can be given as a form of post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, to prevent anthrax from developing if symptoms haven’t developed.

Key Background

Anthrax is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can jump from animals to humans, and its discovery in both livestock and wildlife in Wyoming means there is a risk to humans. Human anthrax infections are relatively rare, especially in countries like the United States, but are serious and often rapidly fatal without prompt treatment with antibiotics. There are four types of anthrax—cutaneous, injection, inhalation and gastrointestinal—which occur when the bacteria enter through the skin, an injection, are breathed in or are eaten. More than 90% are cutaneous (skin) anthrax, which can happen after spores enter through cuts or grazes when handling infected animals or contaminated animal products like hides, wool or hair. It is considered the least dangerous form of anthrax and around a fifth of patients will still die without treatment. But almost all treated properly with antibiotics will survive with symptoms like itchy skin, blisters, sores and swelling appearing around the infection site around one to seven days after exposure. The antibiotics most commonly used to treat anthrax—ciprofloxacin and doxycycline—are readily available and widely used throughout medicine.

Tangent

While anthrax is an infectious disease, it is not contagious and does not spread between people or animals. Infections primarily occur in mammals—often wild and domestic herbivores like sheep, cows, goats and deer—as well as some bird species. It almost always arises following environmental exposure and the durable nature of the spores mean it is practically impossible to eliminate or control the threat of anthrax in a given area once it is established. These features, along with the ability to disperse it as an aerosol, also make anthrax an ideal candidate for biological warfare. It is well-documented that many countries have explored the possibility of weaponizing anthrax and while some have admitted developing weaponized strains, no country is known to have deployed any. Officials worry anthrax could be deployed by non-state actors like terrorist groups, such as through letter attacks, and the CDC says anthrax is “one of the biological agents most likely to be used” in a bioterrorist attack.

Surprising Fact

Experts appear to be discovering new ways anthrax can manifest in humans, though examples are exceedingly rare. Scientists and clinicians used to believe only cutaneous, inhalation and gastrointestinal anthrax were possible in humans, though they recently discovered a distinct form of anthrax among heroin-injecting drug users in northern Europe. Symptoms for injection anthrax are similar to cutaneous anthrax but can include an infection deep under the skin or in the muscle where the drug was injected, the CDC says, and it can spread faster through the body and be harder to recognize than the cutaneous form. The CDC also warns of another anthrax disease: welder’s anthrax. The agency said the “newly identified and rare disease… has been found in several people who are welders or metalworkers.” It can cause severe pneumonia and be fatal, the CDC said, urging welders or metalworkers who develop “fever and chills with sudden cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing, or coughing up blood, see a healthcare provider immediately.”

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How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

Published

5 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

For four straight nights, Game Warden Spencer Carstens and a fellow officer sat in an unmarked vehicle at a Cody city park, windows down, staring into the blackness from dusk until 3 a.m.

Nothing happened.

The poaching caper that would become known internally as the “Cody Park Case” had been building since late August 2024, when residents began finding mule deer carcasses in their front yards and floating in a pond at the Park County Complex. The deer body count reached nine.

According to Wyoming Game and Fish, all nine were killed “right in the middle of town where deer like to hang out” by the library, not far from Canal Park and Glendale Park

All shot with a compound bow, all left to rot.

By the time wardens launched their stakeout, and the only lead was grainy security camera footage of a silver car cruising the neighborhood.

The full story of how the case came together is now the subject of an episode of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast, hosted by Robert Gagliardi, the assistant editor of Wyoming Wildlife magazine. The podcast is a newer offering from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and this particular episode stood out for good reason.

“Our law enforcement stories, those are a fan favorite because they’re very exciting, they’re incredibly interesting, and they do a great job just highlighting just how much work goes into successfully investigating and closing a case like that,” Amanda Fry, public information officer for Wyoming Game and Fish, told Cowboy State Daily.

First Blood

In 2024, the first dead buck appeared in someone’s front yard near a city park, with a blood trail leading across the street and footprints disappearing into the grass. An arrow wound made the cause of death obvious.

“The first thing I kind of thought of was maybe it was a kid,” Carstens recalled for the podcast. A deer in a backyard, shot for fun — that was going to be the end of it.

But then, more reports came in the same day. A second buck, a couple of doors down, also arrowed.

Then a third, in a nearby park, where wardens recovered an arrow — an expandable broadhead fired from a compound bow, a typical hunting setup. Then deer four, five and six. Then number seven, found floating in a pond at the Park County Complex, requiring Carstens to wade out in chest waders to retrieve it.

All nine carcasses — two bucks, six does and a fawn — turned up within a tight radius around the county library and city park, right in the middle of town.

Every animal was shot and abandoned. None were harvested in any way.

“They were just killed and left,” Fry confirmed.

Silver Car

Being in city limits gave wardens tools they rarely get to use. Ring doorbell cameras from cooperative neighbors produced footage of activity on the nights deer were killed. Security cameras at a local business captured a silver car driving slowly up and down the street before parking, and a figure stepping out with a flashlight.

It was the first real break, but the footage was too grainy to identify a make and model, let alone a license plate.

“And of course, it’s one of those deals where there’s just silver cars everywhere you look, once you start looking for them,” Carstens said.

An early lead pointed to a group of teenagers spotted on Ring camera footage running around and riding in the back of a truck. Wardens tracked them down at a local school — only to learn they had been playing a supervised game that night, organized by Cody police. They were ruled out.

With no suspect and deer still turning up dead, Carstens and his team decided to stake out the park. They would sit in the dark and wait.

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Fifth Night

By the fifth night of the stakeout, the wardens were running on fumes.

“We’re kind of tired, kind of getting sick of it, trying to figure out what are we going to do next because this isn’t working,” Carstens recalled.

Then they heard it — the unmistakable thwack of a compound bow firing in the darkness, followed by the sound of an arrow hitting flesh.

Using night vision, the wardens looked out into the park. A man was standing there holding a bow, standing over a dead deer.

Carstens crept out of the truck and got as close as he could before making contact. The man bolted.

“I actually get in a foot pursuit with this guy,” Carstens said. “He was a young, pretty fast guy, so he got away from me.”

But the suspect had to have driven there. Wardens fanned out and found the silver car parked about a block away. Peering through the window, they saw an arrow lying on the front seat that matched the one recovered from an earlier crime scene.

And the car was full of fresh groceries.

“Basically went out to get groceries, on his way home decided to pull over and shoot a deer in the park,” Carstens said.

Blood Science

The suspect — later identified as Joshua Tamirat Wielhouwer — fled the state. But wardens had his vehicle and, soon, search warrants for the house where he had been staying. Inside, archery equipment was scattered through multiple rooms. A second vehicle yielded more gear, including a bow and broadheads.

Some of that equipment had blood on it. In some cases, only minuscule traces.

Wardens had also been collecting the deer carcasses and storing them in an evidence freezer. They sent tissue samples from eight of the nine deer to the Wyoming Game & Fish forensics lab, along with every piece of blood-stained archery equipment from the house.

What came back was, in Carstens’ word, “remarkable.”

The lab matched all eight deer to specific pieces of equipment — individual broadheads, arrows and metal inserts — through DNA analysis. Trace amounts of tissue inside a tiny metal arrow insert were enough to tie a specific deer to a specific arrow.

“This is the first case that I’ve worked where we’ve actually been able to take nothing but DNA evidence and make a full case on it,” Carstens said. “Big kudos to the forensics lab. They really helped put this case together. We wouldn’t have a case without them.”

A cell phone search warrant then connected the suspect’s archery equipment to an older case — a beef cow shot with multiple arrows and left to die the year before, a case the Park County Sheriff’s Office had been unable to solve.

Serial Poacher

With a nationwide extraditable warrant issued through the Park County prosecuting office, officers in another state began looking for the suspect. He eventually turned himself in, flew back to Cody and sat in jail for 75 days before posting bail.

A trial was set for February 2025. Before it began, prosecutors and the defense reached a plea deal: guilty on nine of the 18 misdemeanor charges, $18,000 in restitution for the deer and one full year in county jail, with 73 days credited for time served.

The suspect also pleaded guilty to felony destruction of property for the cow, paying restitution to the rancher and accepting three years of supervised probation. All seized archery equipment was forfeited. 

A year behind bars is an unusual outcome for a wildlife case in Wyoming, where penalties more commonly involve fines and revocation of hunting privileges, explained Carstens.

“This guy had never purchased a hunting license in Wyoming,” Carstens said. “He wasn’t really a traditional hunter in the sense that he buys a license, goes out in the field and looks to harvest anything.”

The warden’s best guess at a motive: the suspect was into archery as target shooting and “maybe just wanted to take it to the next level and see what he could do with his bow.”

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody — who was also connected to a mutilated cow. (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Team Effort

Carstens credited his fellow wardens and the Game and Fish investigative unit — which considered the dead cow as a possible predator conflict before determining it had been killed by a bow — and the Park County prosecutor’s office.

“This was definitely the most collaborative effort that I’ve been a part of,” Carstens said.

The community played a role too. Neighbors willingly shared security camera footage, and residents who enjoy the town’s urban mule deer herd were eager to see the case resolved.

“Our hope is to cover everything Game and Fish is doing,” Fry said of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast. “We have terrestrial habitat work, aquatic habitat work, but our law enforcement stories — those are a fan favorite.”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

Published

18 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

The Wyoming Department of Corrections Wyoming Honor Farm and the Bureau of Land Management have announced they will host an adoption on May 9 in Riverton.

According to a release, for more than 35 years, the Honor Farm has shared the BLM’s commitment to place animals removed from overpopulated herds into good, private homes.

The event will offer saddle-started horses, halter-started yearlings and gentled burros for adoption. Photos of many of the available animals can be seen by following BLM Wyoming on Facebook or X. The organizations are currently developing a Flickr album that will premier in the near future. The horses to be offered all originate from Wyoming public lands.

The Wyoming Honor Farm is located one mile north of Riverton. Take U.S. Highway 26 to Honor Farm Road.

On May 8, gates open at 12:30 p.m. Preview available horses and burros in-person starting at 1:30 p.m. All visitors must be offsite by 3:30 p.m.

On May 9, gates open at 8 a.m. and the competitive-bid adoption begins at 10 a.m.

Both days’ events are free and open to anyone interested in wild horses, the Honor Farm gentling process and the BLM wild horse and burro adoption program.

According to the BLM, it will provide applications and information about how to adopt on both days. The BLM reports the horses and burros are current on their vaccinations, de-worming and Coggins testing. Only covered straight deck or stock type trailers with swing gate and sturdy walls and floors are authorized for loading.

The Wyoming Department of Corrections reports that since 1988, the Honor Farm has helped the BLM place thousands of horses and burros. The WDC has a low recidivism rate, and leadership feels this is largely due to the meaningful work accomplished by the Honor Farm inmates, including the gentling of wild horses. Inmates who are released after working in this program have a greater chance of succeeding in the outside world, according to the WDC.

Refreshments will be available during the event. Ice cream sandwiches will be provided on Friday, May 8. On Saturday, May 9, breakfast and lunch will be available free of charge for attendees.

All members of the public entering the facility will be subject to security checks conducted by GSecurity, including vehicle inspections. For the safety of visitors, staff, and animals – pets, firearms, and alcohol are not allowed on site.

The BLM wishes the public to be aware that cell phones, smart watches, cameras, video equipment and tobacco products must be kept locked in your vehicle while onsite. To maintain a positive environment for visitors, a reasonable clothing standard must be adhered to. Shorts and form-fitting clothing are prohibited.

To learn more about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, including adoption requirements, visit blm.gov/whb or contact the national information center at 866-468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov.

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