It seems that Robert E. Smith, a director at Sinclair Broadcasting had a wolf hanging around on his Montana property and wasn’t happy about it.

Smith who contributed thousands of dollars to Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s campaign, decided to phone in a favor and get rid of the wolf.

The wolves are typically protected if they are within the park's boundaries, it is still legal to trap and hunt those that wander onto private property. Smith went straight to the top in calling Gianforte and the Governor skipped the procedures in place and had the wolf trapped and killed.

Gianforte "violated Montana regulations by harvesting the wolf without first completing a state-mandated wolf trapping certification course." That violation led to the written warning he received from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.

Gianforte received a stern written warning after he violated his own state's hunting regulations after he killed an adult black wolf just ten miles north of Yellowstone National Park's boundary, according to Boise State Public Radio.

The governor's move led to stark criticism from sportsmen advocates. John Sullivan, chair of the Montana chapter for the non-profit sportsmen's organization Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, criticized the Republican governor as he insisted that given his high-ranking position he should have knowledge of the state's hunting laws.

"He has been hunting and trapping for a long time and I would be surprised to learn that he didn't know better than to complete that education," Sullivan said. "We hope that he apologizes to the citizens of the state for circumventing the process that we all have to go through."

On a related note, this young deer (below) stopped by my house yesterday to feast on some of the flowers that were recently planted.

I don’t know about you, but I rather see a beautiful animal like this in my backyard instead of some flowers. Unlike Smith, I did not call the Florida Governor to have the deer killed.

He’s too busy killing the Florida residents with his lax COVID guidelines anyway.

H/T Alter Net