The Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act is a recent bipartisan initiative to ban the use of snowmobiles in hunting on federal lands.
Snowmobile whacking has been one of the biggest issues in wildlife management ever since the Cody Roberts bar incident.
This event brought global attention to the issue and sparked outrage over the inhumane practice, bringing pressure to the state governments to do something about it.
It looked like Wyoming might step up and do the right thing when their Treatment of Predators Working Group was put on the issue to consider enforcing stricter laws.
But their proposed state bill has been weakened and now defends the snowmobile whacking practice as long as the animal is killed quickly after being struck by the vehicle.
Because of this disappointing development and the continued failure of states to manage their wildlife responsibly, many wildlife advocates felt that the only option was to go to the federal level.
Republican representatives Matt Gaetz and Nancy Mace seem to be taking the lead on the new SAW act, alongside Don Davis and Troy Carter.
The bill is still in the early stages but is gathering significant support. This would be a major step in the right direction, so we will keep a close eye on it going forward.