Wyoming
Wyoming Experts Say Safety Rules Ignored In Bear Release That Ended In Attack
Armenian wildlife rangers did practically everything wrong when recently releasing a brown bear, and they’re lucky nobody got killed, Wyoming Grizzly experts said.
A viral video of the Oct. 23 incident shows a 2-year-old male Armenian brown bear, a close relative of Wyoming grizzlies, turn and charge right for the ranger who lifted the gate on the bear’s cage.
The man barely manages to hop into the bed of a pickup, which speeds away while the irritated bear chases the truck, still dead set on taking a chunk out of the ranger.
Nobody was hurt, but what’s seen in the video is a terrible example of how to handle bears, federal grizzly biologist Frank van Manen told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“The scenario shown in the video is highly irresponsible, both from a human safety and bear safety standpoint,” he said.
Retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody agreed that what the video depicts was foolhardy.
“The man releasing the bear is practically eyeball-to-eyeball with it,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “They’re treating that animal like he was a raccoon or a fox.”
A Bear Named Ricky
Celebrity bears, such as Grizzly 399 and Grizzly 104, aren’t limited to Wyoming’s Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
The bear that tried to make mincemeat of the Armenian wildlife ranger is well-known in his home country. He’s named Ricky, after British comedian and animal rights activist Ricky Gervais.
In early October, Ricky was struck by a vehicle in the village of Urtsadzor, Ararat Province, Armenia.
He was taken to a wildlife sanctuary and nursed back to health. His release back into the wild was supposed to be a celebratory moment.
But Ricky apparently didn’t appreciate the humans’ kind gesture.
After his cage was taken to the release site and placed on the ground, the ranger stood atop it and pulled the front gate off.
As Ricky went after him with claws swinging and teeth bared, the ranger had to use the gate as a shield to fend off the bear as the man desperately scrambled into the pickup bed.
Stupid Human Tricks
Having a bear cage just set on the ground was stupid, Neal said. And having somebody stand on top of it and pull the gate was even stupider.
“We don’t even use cages like that anymore in North America,” he said. “The bear-management agencies here typically use culvert-style cages on wheels, pulled behind the truck.”
And the cage door is opened remotely, he added.
“Much of the time, there’s never even a need for personnel to be outside of vehicles during a release,” Neal said.
Gotta Keep ’Em Separated
Keeping people and bears separated during releases is the key to keeping everybody safe, bears and humans alike, said van Manen.
He’s the supervisory biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team. The team frequently traps and releases bears, either for studies or to relocated them.
“All partner agencies of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team have very strict protocols in place to prevent such a dangerous scenario (as the one in the video),” he said.
“The safety of our field personnel and that of the bears in our care is our top priority,” he said. “There are lots of safety considerations and we try to anticipate and minimize risks throughout the entire process of setting and checking traps, chemical immobilization, handling, recovery and release.
“For example, in a similar situation, absolutely no personnel would be outside of a vehicle at the time of release; our field personnel pull the trap door with a very long rope operated from inside a vehicle, and drive away as soon as the trap door opens and the bear leaves the trap.”
Ricky Might Have Been Doped
Neal said that from what he could tell by watching the video, it’s highly likely that Ricky was still recovering from tranquilizers when the ranger pulled the gate on his cage.
“He looked like he was still hopped up on drugs,” Neal said. “He was clumsy and not as agile as bears usually are.”
Although it might seem safter to have a semi-tranquilized bear, that’s not the case, he added.
Bears that are trying to wake up from a tranquilizer nap are known to be extremely grouchy, Neal said.
“Bears can become aggressive when they are coming down off tranquilizers, and I think that might be what was happening in that video,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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