State Rep. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, swears he doesn’t hate otters, but his House Bill 45 legislation would remove the aquatic critters as a protected animal in Wyoming. 

“I love otters,” Byron said. “I truly love otters.”

Byron said the primary reason for wanting to remove otters from the state’s protected status is to allow for hunting of the species that he believes has fully recovered since becoming nearly extinct in Wyoming about 70 years ago.

An avid fisherman, Byron said he saw many otters while out fishing this summer.

“They seem to be everywhere now,” he said.

Byron said he’s also received multiple complaints from people in Teton and Lincoln counties that otters have been eating up a sizable chunk of the fish populations there. 

He wants to remove the otters’ protected status so that Wyoming Game and Fish can have more power to manage the species, but said he has no desire to see it hunted or trapped. 

“It just opens up the opportunity to manage them,” he said. “There’s a number of animals we don’t manage, good or bad.”

Similar arguments have been made in Wyoming for delisting the grizzly bear from federal protected status. 

Otter Density

Currently, otters, along with the black‑footed ferret, fisher, lynx, pika and wolverine, are all considered protected animals in Wyoming and therefore can’t be hunted. 

What Byron’s bill would do is allow Wyoming Game and Fish to manage the otter as regular wildlife, which could open the door for it to be potentially managed for hunting and trapping someday.

State Sens. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo; Dan Dockstader, R-Afton; Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower; Bill Landen, R-Casper; and Reps. Dalton Banks, R-Cowley; Bob Davis, R-Baggs; Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland; Mike Schmid, R-La Barge; and J.D. Williams, R-Lusk; have co-sponsored the legislation.

Otters are not a species protected federally by the Endangered Species Act.

Otter Disbelief

According to Game and Fish, otters have been a protected species in Wyoming since 1953. The northern river otter is the lone species of otter in Wyoming.

Historically, there were northern river otter populations across most major river drainages in the United States, Canada and much of Wyoming, but fur trapping, pollution and habitat degradation decimated the species by the mid 20th century.

University of Wyoming professor Merav Ben-David, one of the state’s perennial otter experts, said the river otter was completely extinct outside Yellowstone National Park by the time it became a protected species in Wyoming in 1953.

Various reintroduction efforts conducted throughout the Rocky Mountain region have been successful, but Ben-David said the otter population in Wyoming is still doing “terribly.” 

The main population centers for otters in Wyoming are in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Greater Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming, although there’s some evidence they’ve started traveling up the Laramie River from Colorado to populate southeast Wyoming.

A 2010 Game and Fish study estimated 35-44 otters live around the Green and New Fork rivers, and designated the animal as “very rare” with “moderate vulnerability.” 

UW studies performed in 2015 and 2022 of the otter populations in the Green River found an average of one otter per 2.39-3.65 kilometers. Ben-David said a healthy population would represent three or four times those numbers.

“These are really low numbers compared to other areas,” she said.

Ben-David said the biggest reason why otters have been slow to recover in Wyoming is because their recovery started on lake-based habitats in Yellowstone. Rivers, she said, are a much more suitable location for otters to have success.

“Rivers are better for more fishing capacity,” she said.

Donal O’Toole, a UW professor and veterinary pathologist, said otter introduction programs in Missouri, Colorado and New York have had much more success in growing back otter populations than in Wyoming.

“Why are we different from other states?” he questioned. “Before we start killing things, we might want to make sure killing them makes any ecological sense.” 

Game and Fish told Cowboy State Daily in 2023 that the agency does some passive monitoring of otters’ distribution around the state, which includes updating their range and distribution maps based on submitted observations by staff and the public. Though trappers aren’t allowed to kill otters, they’re encouraged to report seeing them to help Game and Fish better ascertain their population and range in Wyoming. That’s according to the agency’s current fur bearing animal hunting or trapping regulations.

What’s Driving it?

O’Toole and Ben-David believe the main push for the legislation is out of frustration among people in southwest Wyoming who stock their own private ponds with fish.

“I think the need for change in law is being driven by a very personal vendetta,” Ben-David said. “It’s a misguided decision to change the law. There’s so many other wildlife things we need to worry about. This is ridiculous.”

During a Game and Fish Commission meeting in March, Alpine resident Tim Haberberger told the panel that people have been illegally killing and trapping otters in southwest Wyoming by the hundreds, disposing of the carcasses in dumpsters.

“This is getting ridiculous, there’s so many being caught and trapped in beaver traps,” he said. 

Haberberger said Wyoming is one of the few states where otters can’t be trapped. He wants the activity legalized and managed in Wyoming.

“It needs to (be) discussed,” he said.

But neither Ben-David nor O’Toole believe a desire to trap the otter is a major motivation behind Byron’s bill. Ben-David said the market for river otter fur has substantially declined, bringing in about $90-$150 per pelt in Alaska, where it’s legal. 

When factoring in the time and energy to trap an otter, Ben-David said most people don’t find it to be worth their time when they could trap other game and make much more money.

“Trapping in the mountains is way easier and you can make way more money,” Ben-David said. “If in one year you’d get 10 otter pelts, you’d have to wait 50 years to get another 10.”

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.

By ALYSSA GUZMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 14:58 GMT, 1 January 2025 | Updated: 15:40 GMT, 1 January 2025

A Wyoming couple could face centuries in prison after they allegedly arranged and had group sex with a child, who they supplied with drugs. 

Jennifer Renee Fahrney, 39, and Richard Allen Turner, 56, both of Rock Springs, face dozens of felony charges after their arrest on October 22. 

Fahrney garnered 66 felony counts and faces up to 858 years in prison, according to Cowboy State Daily. An affidavit filed claimed that she brought the teenage girl into sex acts with her boyfriend over multiple months. 

They were arrested by Rock Springs Police Department at a Pilot Butte Avenue home after a warrant was issued for a child welfare check. The police and Family Services had visited the home prior and was denied entry, according to a police statement. 

Officers found animal urine and feces throughout the property, exposed wires, minimal food, drugs, and ‘extreme filth’ in the home, alongside three minor children. 

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Four adults – including Fahrney and Turner – were arrested. 

The victim, a female, told Detective Jennifer Saloga that someone had helped her inject meth into her arm as she didn’t know how to do it herself. She also admitted to having sex with Turner, according to Cowboy State Daily. 

The girl did not tell police who injected the drug into her, but allegedly admitted Turner had performed sexual acts on her multiple times. 

Jennifer Renee Fahrney, 39, (pictured) and Richard Allen Turner, 56, both of Rock Springs, face dozens of felony charges after their arrest on October 22. Fahrney garnered 66 felony counts and faces up to 858 years in prison

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The female victim told detectives she had sex with Turner (pictured) multiple times. Fahrney allegedly arranged for them to have sex with the minor on numerous occasions over a year. The victim also said someone injected her with meth, but didn’t say who

Fahrney allegedly arranged sex acts between the girl and them for more than a year, according to an affidavit. She also watched Turner and the girl have sex. 

Police found Fahrney arranging the sexual encounters with a contact on her phone labeled: ‘My Biggest Mistake.’ Through the contact, the suspect was trying to arrange the girl to have sex with various people, according to Cowboy State Daily. 

Saloga also found pornography on Turner’s phone, the affidavit alleged. 

More than 50 of Fahrney’s charges deal with sex crimes against a child, while nine involve exposing that child to drugs. 

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Turner – who had an outstanding warrant for failure to register as a sex offender – has two cases, pending in two different courts. One of his cases have been up to the felony level, while he is expected to be arraigned in the other on January 27. 

His case in Sweetwater County case, he faces 13 counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Each of those can be punished as a sex offense, which carries a life sentence. 

He is also accused of giving minors drugs and sex abuse on three occasions each, which holds 20 and 10 years in prison for each offense, respectively.

In a second case, he faces 24 counts of child pornography, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for each offense.  

The Department of Interior provided $62.4 million for the purchase and the Grand Teton National Park Foundation raised the remaining $37.6 million through private donations.

A portion of land within Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park has been sold to the federal government, which will prohibit private development.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon certified the sale of the state’s so-called Kelly Parcel to the U.S. Department of Interior for $100 million on Friday. Gordon has previously indicated his desire to use the proceeds to buy other federal lands and minerals within Wyoming, according to a news release. The $100 million could be combined with an additional $62 million from the sale of other parcels in Teton County, Wyoming, for that purpose.

The Department of Interior, through the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, footed $62.4 million of the total price. The Grand Teton National Park Foundation, through private funding, raised the additional $37.6 million needed for the purchase, according to a Grand Teton National Park Foundation news release.

“Along with the protection of an iconic parcel of land, we now begin working to ensure that there is no net-gain in federal lands in Wyoming,” Gordon said in a statement. “It has been my goal to utilize the proceeds of this sale to expand the state’s portfolio of lands and minerals, and this is the first step towards doing so.”

The private funding was led by two anonymous families, in addition to the National Park Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Jackson Hole Hand Trust and nearly 400 donors from 46 states, who gave between $10 to $15 million, according to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.

Here’s what you need to know.

Governor’s move comes with a note of criticism

Despite the finalization, Gordon has also leveled criticism at the Bureau of Land Management, operated by the Department of Interior, for its handling of the sale. In a news release, Gordon claimed that the federal government, especially under the Biden-Harris Administration, has dragged its feet with the sale, despite the desires of Wyoming residents.

“With President Trump in office, former Gov. Burgum at the head of the Department of the Interior, and a Republican Senate and House, I am confident that we will have the ability to finish the job and right a course that has been so far off track over the last four years,” Gordon said in a news release. Doug Burgum is the former governor of North Dakota and was recently named by Trump to lead the Department of Interior.

The Bureau of Land Management did not immediately respond for comment about the Kelly Parcel purchase when contacted by USA TODAY on Tuesday.

Years in the making

The finalized sale follows years of conversations about the Kelly Parcel. Most recently, the Wyoming Board of Land Commissioners, which Gordon sits on, approved the sale in November.

Over the past 12 years, the Board of Land Commissioners has disposed three parcels of land near Grand Teton National Park to the U.S. Department of Labor. These sales, which occurred between 2012 and 2016, accrued $62 million. The board is permitted, under state law, to utilize this funding to acquire other federal lands.

As for the Kelly Parcel specifically, there had been discussions in the past of opening up the land for public auction, which would have allowed private developers to buy it.

What is the Kelly Parcel?

Located within Grand Teton National Park, the Kelly Parcel stretches 640 acres through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. It has been owned by the state of Wyoming since the state’s establishment, but it’s only been a part of the national park since 1950.

The Kelly Parcel is a state trust land, which means that assets from the land generate income for Wyoming public schools, as stated in the state’s constitution. The parcel, according to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation, currently obtained about $2,800 annual through various permits.

The sale of the Kelly Parcel will return approximately $69.6 million into Wyoming’s Common School Permanent Fund within the first 10 years, according to the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.