In the dry, fire-prone backcountry of Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest, U.S. Forest Service rangers have temporarily put an end to a controversial method of disposing of dead horses. Thanks to drought and rising temperatures combined to heighten the risk of wildfires, all thanks in large part to climate change, the carcasses of dead horses will no longer be exploded to prevent grizzly bears from hanging around their remains.
Rangers usually use this very delicate tactic of blowing a dead horse to smithereens to protect hikers. But recently, after two horses died on a steep trail near Cody, WY, officials decided to eschew the use of explosives to blow that dead horse straight to hell so they could cut down the risk of sparking a wildfire in the surrounding dry grass. The officials decided to move the carcasses downhill and reroute the trail, thus creating a wide buffer zone to cut down on bear encounters.
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The practice of exploding dead horses as a means of disposal has been around in Wyoming since 1995 where a manual with the hilariously straightforward title “Obliterating Animal Carcasses with Explosives” details exactly how to obliterate animal carcasses with explosives. It’s a two-page manual that you can download right here. I highly recommend it.
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The first page of the manual provides the reader with a picture of a horse that has long planks situated around its body. Those planks are explosives and the entire diagram is telling you where to best place those explosives to effectively obliterate the dead horse. In the case of Figure 1, where time is not a factor and the horse isn’t too big, the explosives should be placed under the horse in specific locations, like its torso, head, and legs.
Figure 2 goes comically overboard with the explosives. It’s exclusively for exploding horses in situations where it’s not practical to move it or when “total animal obliteration is necessary,” like when it keeled over and died in an area heavily trafficked by humans. In that case, nearly every bit of exposed horse is blanketed in explosives and blown to kingdom come.
As a side note, opening the link to the document I provided above will open it in a separate tab that is titled “fun stuff.” Downloading the document will bring up the “autosave” window that has a pre-filled-in name for the document. That name is “Boom-Boom-Boom.”
This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
The former director of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) agency is joining Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department.
9-News reported that Jeff Davis was hired as the department’s deputy director in late December. That’s after Doug Brimeyer retired.
He starts the job in February.
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Davis resigned from CPW last year instead of being fired as part of a settlement agreement. The settlement agreement Davis signed did not directly cite a reason for his termination.
Davis joined CPW as the state reintroduced wolves. His resignation came shortly after Washington state said it would not provide wolves to Colorado’s reintroduction program.
Before joining CPW in 2023, Davis had a long career in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. While there, he focused on coordinating conservation initiatives involving interdisciplinary teams and salmon recovery.
BILLINGS— Activists on both sides praised and criticized the Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling of abortion bans as unconstitutional on Tuesday in a 4-1 majority.
The ruling marks the end of a four-year legal battle in Wyoming since the state’s 2022 abortion ban went in place with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned abortion rights on a federal level.
Watch for the report:
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Activists react after Wyoming high court rules abortion ban unconstitutional
The ban was put on hold after Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, Wellspring Health Access in Casper, led a suit against the state.
“I was holding my breath as I opened it and read it. But soon that turned to being rather elated. We couldn’t be more pleased with the opinion,” said Julie Burkhart, the clinic’s president.
Vanessa Willardson
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Julie Burkhart
The decision comes after a years-long fight and setbacks, including an arsonist who set the clinic on fire in May of 2022.
“We were set to open that next month, but unfortunately that arson set us back by 11 months. We weren’t able to open that until 2023. It was quite devastating,” said Burkhart.
“I don’t think it’s moral, ethical, appropriate for anyone to tell another person what they can or cannot do with their own body,” she added.
Wellspring Health Access
Wellspring Health Access after 2022 fire
For a Montana advocacy group, it was a different story.
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“I was very disappointed,” said Amy Seymour, president of Yellowstone Valley Christians for Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group.
“These pre-born children who are unique, complete, living, individual human beings from the moment of their conception, they can be protected if Wyoming decides to have a constitutional amendment to that degree,” she added.
Vanessa Willardson
Amy Seymour
Wyoming state Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, a Republican, echoed Seymour’s sentiments with a written statement.
“Today’s decision is an abomination. Four unelected justices thwarted the will of the people to establish a ‘right’ to kill an innocent baby. Thanks to these justices, Wyoming has some of the most radical abortion laws in America. I will not stand for that, and will continue fighting for innocent unborn babies,” said Neiman.
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Wyoming Supreme Court strikes down abortion bans, keeping procedure legal
GLENROCK, Wyo. — A 55-year-old Wyoming man died Monday night after his vehicle went over a bridge rail and caught fire on Interstate 25 near Glenrock.
Gavin Stanek was traveling north in a Cadillac Escalade around 9:13 p.m. when the vehicle drifted into the median near milepost 156, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol report. The vehicle continued through the median until it struck a bridge retaining wall.
The driver’s side of the Escalade scraped along the rail before the vehicle went over the edge toward the river. The Cadillac rolled toward the passenger side and landed on its roof on the river embankment, where it was engulfed in flames, the report states.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol identified driver fatigue or the driver falling asleep as a possible contributing factor in the crash. Road conditions were dry and the weather was clear at the time of the incident.
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This story contains preliminary information as provided by the Wyoming Highway Patrol via the Wyoming Department of Transportation Fatal Crash Summary map. The agency advises that information may be subject to change.
