On a Saturday evening, three brave cats pulled off I-80 into Laramie in the back of a Ford Escape. The two crates that held the three cats were squeezed into the car with inches to spare. The transfer between vehicles was swift. What was happening here? Illegal sale of cats for experiments? Sale of cats to cult followers? No, nothing nefarious.

Research shows that beaver activity can increase water retention by hundreds of millions of cubic feet of water in a single watershed, reducing flooding and creating natural fire and drought resistance. The benefits of beavers to landowners and agricultural producers, hunters, anglers, recreationalists, wildlife advocates, and all water users across society are innumerable. 

On August 11, 2026, people (and one very well-behaved puppy named Bella) gathered on the historic front porch of the Murie Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. They came to hear author Miriam Horn talk about legendary field biologist George Schaller. The evening was part of Teton Science Schools' Murie Ranch Front Porch Series, presented in partnership with the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.

On September 11, 2026, Grand Teton National Park staff euthanized a black bear near Delta Lake, one of the park's most popular backcountry destinations. The bear had not attacked anyone, in fact it had nothing wrong. It died because people gave it human food.

Park officials were blunt about who was responsible: this bear was lethally removed because of poor decisions made by park visitors.

For thousands of years, beavers were the engineers of the West's streams. Their dams slowed rushing water, spread it across valley floors, and created lush, wet corridors full of willows, fish, birds, and wildlife.

Conservationists are borrowing a page from the beaver's playbook. Using simple, hand-built structures called beaver dam analogs, crews of staff and volunteers are helping streams heal.

Here's the thing about the Code of the West. When I ask who originated the code, I get blank looks. A typical response is: "Well, I don't know the fellow's name, but I assume it was written around the time we settled the West." That's partly right. Cowboys and ranchers of the 1870s and '80s had expectations about keeping your word and sticking by your outfit, but nobody wrote them down as a formal code. That job fell to novelists like Owen Wister and Zane Grey, whose 1934 novel was titled The Code of the West, and to Hollywood after them. The ten-point list that became our state's official code of behavior is far more recent.

It’s not smart to leave cyanide lying about on public land.  Cyanide is a potent toxin that, in small amounts (i.e., <1 g), causes lightheadedness, giddiness and rapid breathing, progressing to stupor, spasms, convulsions, and death. Symptoms of acute sodium cyanide poisoning develop rapidly. A published study conducted by personnel from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1980s used M-44 devices (see below) and penned dogs and coyotes to establish a timeline. Symptoms develop at 32 seconds of exposure. Animals are dead within two minutes. 

Wyoming's 2026 Trophy Zone wolf hunting quota was cut by 50%, from 44 tags down to 22. That decision was driven by an event most Wyomingites probably didn't hear much about: a severe disease outbreak that reshaped the wolf population in ways the state's usual harvest calculations don't typically account for. Here's what happened, how the state is responding, and why WYCAP believes more protection is still needed.

Horse hoarding occurs in Wyoming. It is a complex form of animal cruelty involving the accumulation of more horses than can be properly cared for. This can result in neglect, malnutrition, and illness, often by the owner's delusional belief that he or she is saving them.

While many groups are pressing policymakers to more quickly phase out lead ammunition and fishing tackle and transition to non-toxic alternatives, some Republican lawmakers in Congress are pushing to pass H.R. 556, the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act, that would block any federal agency from restricting the use of lead ammunition.

“You know, looking at your pull-up posters really makes me uneasy. When I asked myself why, I realized it was because I had no idea about any of these awful animal cruelty cases. Thanks for educating me and for what you do”. It was one of many similar comments I received recently while staffing a booth at the annual meeting of The Wildlife Society in Sheridan, Wyoming.