Offenses Concerning Livestock and Other Animals

Wyo. Stat. Ann. tit. 11, ch. 30
in effect

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-104 Misbranding or altering brand of livestock.

Whoever brands, or alters or defaces the brand of any horse, mule, sheep or cattle of another with intent to steal or to prevent the identification of the animal shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than three (3) nor more than ten (10) years.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-106 Removing skins from carcasses without permission prohibited; exception as to railroads.

(a) Any person who skins or removes from a carcass any part of the skin, hide or pelt of any cattle, sheep, horses, mules or goats found dead, without permission from the owner, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned not more than six (6) months, or both. (b) This section does not prevent the skinning of animals killed by railroad companies by employees of the railroad company which killed the stock, but the hide, hides or pelts must be preserved for inspection according to law.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-107 Transportation of beef unlawfully obtained or killed.

Transportation in Wyoming, without authority, of unlawfully obtained or killed beef, mutton, pork or poultry is unlawful, punishable as by law provided. Whenever any law enforcement officer of this state discovers any person unlawfully transporting any unlawfully obtained or killed beef, mutton, pork or poultry in any conveyance or vehicle, he shall seize the beef, mutton, pork or poultry and the conveyance or vehicle. The officer shall also arrest the person in possession thereof. The officer shall promptly prosecute proper charges against each person arrested in the proper court of the county in which the seizure is made. Upon conviction of the person charged with unlawful possession and transportation, the court shall order the forfeit of all personal property seized, and unless satisfactory cause to the contrary is shown by the owner, the court shall order prompt sale at public auction of the seized property. The resulting proceeds, after deducting expenses and costs of sale, shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the conviction is had to the credit of its public school funds.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-108 Desertion and abandonment of sheep by herders.

It is unlawful for any person having charge as herder of any sheep to willfully desert and abandon the sheep upon the open range and leave them without care or attention. The herder shall in all cases give the owner or his employer not less than five (5) days notice prior to the time at which he intends to abandon the sheep. Any person who violates this section shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars ($200.00) nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), imprisoned not more than six (6) months, or both.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-109 Taking horses and equipment without consent of owner.

Any person who unlawfully takes without consent of the owner any horse, ass or mule, or any buggy or other vehicle from the stable, lot, premises or pasture of another, or from a hitching post or rack or any other place, having been lawfully placed there, with intent to set at large, injure or wrongfully use the animal or vehicle taken, is guilty of criminal trespass and shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00), or more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or imprisoned for not more than six (6) months, or both, and is also liable to the party injured in double the amount of damage sustained.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-110 Appropriation of horse or mule on open range without permission.

(a) It is unlawful for any person without the consent of the owner, to take possession of any horse or mule found running at large upon the open range for the purpose or with the intent of working, riding or driving the horse or mule, where there is no intent on the part of the person to steal the horse or mule. It is unlawful for any person to drive any horses or mules not his own, off or away from any range where the horses or mules are found, except to the nearest corral for the purpose of separating them from horses or mules belonging to the person. Any person driving horses or mules not his own from any range for the purpose of separating them from horses or mules belonging to him, shall drive the horses or mules back to the locality where they were found immediately after separating them whenever the animals have been driven for more than five (5) miles. (b) Any person violating this section shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) or more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), or imprisoned not more than six (6) months, or both.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-111 Ranch or stable keeper not to use horses without consent of owner.

If any person keeping a public ranch or stable uses or allows to be used without consent of the owner any horse, ox, mule or ass that is left with him to be ranched or fed, he shall forfeit to the owner all ranch or stable fees that may be due upon the animal used and an additional forty dollars ($40.00) for each day the animal is used.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-112 Abuse or negligent treatment by bailee.

Any person who takes into his possession, or hires or loans any property of any livery stable keeper, or any other person, and while the property is in his custody shall willfully, or with gross neglect or culpable carelessness damage or destroy the property, or permit the property to be damaged or destroyed, or shall by willful or gross neglect cause the sickness, injury or death of any animal received into his possession, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned not more than sixty (60) days, or both.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-113 Unlawful cutting of ears of sheep.

(a) It is unlawful for any person willfully to cut, sever, detach or mutilate more than one-half (1/2) of either ear of any sheep or to unlawfully have in his possession or under his control any sheep which have more than one-half (1/2) of either ear removed or mutilated unless the same are so described in a bill of sale or other certificate of title covering the sheep. Sheep afflicted by bighead are exempt from the provisions of this section. (b) Any person who violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than five (5) years.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-114 Tampering with or drugging of livestock prohibited; definitions; penalty.

(a) No person shall tamper with or sabotage any livestock which has been registered, entered or exhibited in any exhibition in this state. (b) No person shall administer, dispense, distribute, manufacture, sell or use any drug to or for livestock which has been registered, entered or exhibited in any exhibition in this state unless the drug is approved for such use by the United States Food and Drug Administration or the United States Department of Agriculture. However, nothing shall prevent any person from using a drug on livestock owned by him if either federal agency has approved an application submitted for investigational use in accordance with the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. (c) Any person who violates this section shall be punished as provided by W.S. 11-1-103. (d) As used in this section: (i) "Drug" means as defined by W.S. 35-7-110(a)(x); (ii) "Exhibition" means a show or sale of livestock at a fair or elsewhere in this state that is sponsored by or under the authority of the state or any political subdivision, local government, or any agricultural, horticultural or livestock society, association or corporation; (iii) "Livestock" means any animal generally used for food or in the production of food, including, but not limited to, horses, mules and asses, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, swine, rabbits or llamas; (iv) "Sabotage" means to intentionally tamper with any livestock belonging to or owned by another person that has been registered, entered or exhibited in any exhibition or raised for the apparent purpose of being entered in an exhibition; (v) "Tamper" shall not include any action taken or activity performed or administered by a licensed veterinarian or in accordance with instructions of a licensed veterinarian if the action or activity was undertaken for accepted medical purposes or any action taken as part of accepted grooming, commercial or medical practices, but shall include any of the following: (A) Treatment of livestock in such a manner that food derived from the livestock would be considered adulterated under the Wyoming Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, W.S. 35-7-109 et seq.; (B) The injection, use or administration of any drug that is prohibited by any federal, state or local law or any drug that is used in a manner prohibited by any federal, state or local law; (C) The injection or other internal administration of any product or material, whether gas, solid or liquid, to any livestock for the purposes of deception including concealing, enhancing or transforming the true conformation, configuration, color, breed, condition or age of the livestock or making the livestock appear more sound than the livestock would otherwise appear; (D) The use or administration for cosmetic purposes of steroids, illegal growth stimulants or internal artificial filling, including paraffin, silicone injection, or any other substance; (E) The use or application of any drug or feed additive affecting the central nervous system of the livestock; (F) The use or administration of diuretics for cosmetic purposes; (G) The manipulation or removal of tissue, by surgery or otherwise, so as to change, transform or enhance the true conformation or configuration of the livestock. Nothing in this subparagraph shall prohibit generally accepted management practices including but not limited to the dehorning, castration or spaying, corrective shoeing or trimming of any livestock; (H) Subjecting the livestock to inhumane conditions or procedures for the purpose of concealing, enhancing or transforming the true conformation, configuration, condition or age of the livestock or making the livestock appear more sound than the livestock would otherwise appear; (J) Substituting any different livestock for the livestock registered or entered in the exhibition without the permission of a responsible official of the exhibition.

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 11-30-115 Unlawful killing of wild horses and burros; federal management and invoicing; enforcement by writ of mandamus; state management with other agencies and tribes.

(a) For purposes of this section: (i) "Affected nonfederal lands" means state, municipal or county lands upon which the landowner has proof that wild horses have regularly grazed; (ii) "Appropriate management level" or "AML" means the number of wild horses that the United States bureau of land management or United States forest service determines can exist in balance with other public land resources and uses. The AML is a range of low to maximum levels at which wild horse herd populations are consistent with the land's capacity to support them; (iii) "Herd management area" means lands under the supervision of the United States bureau of land management or United States forest service upon which populations of wild horses are managed according to the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, as amended, 16 U.S.C. § 1331 et seq.; (iv) "Wild horse" means any unbranded and unclaimed horse or burro on public lands. (b) Any person, without legal justification, who willfully and maliciously kills a wild horse is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750.00), imprisonment for not more than six (6), months or both. (c) Upon the failure or refusal, as determined by the governor, of the United States bureau of land management or United States forest service to remove any wild horses claimed by the United States bureau of land management or United States forest service as belonging to a herd management area, which regularly stray from federal lands, the office of state lands and investments shall provide the United States secretary of the interior or United States secretary of agriculture, as applicable, with annual notice identifying the grazing cost for those wild horses and a request for reimbursement of those costs. To facilitate calculation of costs under this subsection the office of state lands and investments shall: (i) Determine the total area of the herd management area plus adjacent affected nonfederal lands, and determine the percentage of the total area consisting of affected nonfederal lands; (ii) Using annual wild horse data from the bureau of land management or forest service, as applicable, calculate the annual animal unit month amount of forage consumed by the wild horses in the applicable area; (iii) Multiply the forage consumed as calculated under paragraph (ii) of this subsection by the percentage of affected nonfederal lands determined under paragraph (i) of this subsection and apply the rate for services rendered for each acre of affected nonfederal lands: (A) For wild horse numbers up to the high appropriate management levels, an amount equal to the land lease rate per animal unit month for Wyoming trust land grazing leases; (B) For wild horse numbers in excess of the high appropriate management levels, an amount equal to three (3) times the land lease rate per animal unit month for Wyoming trust land grazing leases. (d) Any reimbursement monies received from a federal land management agency in response to a notice of costs of wild horse grazing on affected nonfederal lands and request for reimbursement sent pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall be deposited with the state treasurer and shall first be credited to the municipality or county in the proportionate share applicable in the notice of costs to municipal or county lands included in the total area of affected nonfederal lands pursuant to paragraph (c)(i) of this section and then the balance shall be deposited in the applicable permanent land income fund. A notice of costs sent pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall not be construed to impose any collections responsibility or liability on the part of the state to a municipality or county. (e) The attorney general may seek a writ of mandamus or take other appropriate action to compel the United States bureau of land management or United States forest service, as applicable, to take action to remove excess wild horses as required under federal law from nonfederal lands. Recognizing that wild horses roam without regard to political boundaries, the nonfederal lands for which a writ of mandamus is sought under this subsection may include private land. (f) To manage wild horses in the state, including on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the governor is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements among state and local agencies and with the United States bureau of land management, the United States forest service, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, the Northern Arapaho Tribe, an official cooperative tribal governing body, adjacent states, nongovernmental organizations or other private entities. A cooperative agreement under this subsection may provide for any cooperative undertaking to manage wild horses, including population reduction tactics, permanent and temporary fertility control techniques, expanding or increasing the number of wild horse training and adoption programs and other removal activities. Cooperative agreements shall address the long term management of wild horse populations that are in excess of high appropriate management levels. Any revenue generated as a result of general fund expenditures shall be remitted to the state as allowed by law. As used in this subsection: (i) "Cooperative undertaking" includes an existing program, or a program created pursuant to this subsection, administered by a state agency or any party to the cooperative agreement; (ii) "Wild horse training and adoption programs" includes programs with any state correctional facility under W.S. 25-13-104.
Source: WY Statutes (Official Site)URL: https://wyoleg.gov/statutes/compress/title11.pdfFetched: 10/4/2026

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