Wolf Hunt Law May Conflict With Cruelty To Animals Statute

Remember the guys who tortured and killed deer, and ran afoul of Wisconsin law, even though they were not domesticated animals?

I'd blogged about those true thugs, here.

Well - - the standard set in those cases may force the legislature to rethink or redo the particularly cruel wolf hunt law just passed, according to attorney Jodi Habush Sinykin:

In the winter of 2009, Rory and Robby Kuenzi and Nicholas Hermes ran down deer with snowmobiles in Waupaca County.

They also tied deer to trees and tortured them.

Sinykin told NRB members that a state appellate ruling in the Kuenzi case states that animal cruelty laws extend to wild animals.

She said the Kuenzi brothers and Hermes argued that they were not guilty of animal cruelty charges because that state law applies only to domestic animals, not wild animals.

“The court disagreed. The court clearly reconciled that tension,” said Sinvkin.

The Kuenzis appealed that decision to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, but the high court declined to hear the case.