Billboard creates controversy

A billboard just a few miles outside Thermopolis welcomes people to Wyoming, though the message it has with it is stirring up some people. The sign, put up by Scott Weber and advertising his gun auction company, bids everyone a hearty "Welcome to Wyoming!" and lets people know "Here we Hunt, Trap, Shoot and wear Fur. Enjoy All!" Prominently featured on the billboard is a proud hunter with a grizzly bear he just bagged.

Weber, of Cody, said the billboard was put up in May or June, and was keyed into the grizzly season.

Earlier this year, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to allow hunters to shoot as many as 22 grizzlies outside Yellowstone National Park, with the hunt planned for this September; it would be the first hunting season for the animals since 1974. In June of 2017, the Interior Department announced grizzlies would no longer be listed as "endangered."

However, the decision to delist the animals has been challenged and there is a hearing on the matter in federal court in Missoula, Mont. on Aug. 30.

It's not the first time Weber has started some controversy, as he started putting up the boards about 18 months ago, when wolves were being delisted, though he noted he's been fighting anti-hunter boards for years. With a billboard about grizzly and wolf delisting, he received about 8,500 angry emails.

In particular, Weber said, Native Americans have gotten upset over his billboards. Bears and wolves have cultural and religious significance in Native American culture.

Those who are opposed to wolf and grizzly hunting have put up their own billboards, which could be seen as just as shocking if not more so. One in particular, which was put up in Cody in 2013 and quickly taken down, showed bloody remains of four wolves, with more "blood" dripping from the top of the sign, and stated "This is what is happening to your Yellowstone wolves. Do you care?"

Though he's had plenty of complaints from all over about the signs, Weber said he's also had plenty of compliments as well.

He said it was his intention to get people riled up, and he's seen a real good response. Many people like them, he said, and the controversy has certainly given his company plenty of exposure.

One thing's for sure. The sign war is far from over, as Weber is already planning on more billboards through the Cody area and around the gateway through Yellowstone Park, and Aug. 30 will see whether grizzlies will remain protected or not.