Aussies fined for pig/dog videos; Wyoming wolf killer Cody Roberts indicted

Hunting is legal.  Cruelty is not––not in Wyoming,  grand jury says,  & not Down Under either,  magistrate rules

BUNBURY,  West Australia––Riley Thomas Lang,  25,  and Marie Ann Parker,  23,  were on August 19,  2025 respectively fined the equivalent of $21,231 and $12,224 in U.S. dollars in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court for cruelty to pigs and dogs and “promoting a prohibited activity.”

News of the unusually stiff fines reached the U.S. almost simultaneously with word from the Ninth District Court in Wyoming that a 12-member Sublette County grand jury has indicted Cody Roberts,  43,  for felony cruelty to animals,  against the contention of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department that wolves are not protected by animal cruelty laws in parts of the state where they are legally considered predators.

Cody Roberts ran down wolf with snowmobile

Roberts,  of Daniel,  Wyoming,  on February 29,  2024 ran down a wolf on his snowmobile,  taped her mouth shut,  and showed her off in a bar before shooting her behind the bar.

“In the spring of 2024,  Game & Fish’s investigation and a subsequent citation were handled without public notice in the days after the incident,”  reported Mike Koshmrl for Wyofile.com.

“Roberts was fined $250 for possessing the wolf,”  Koshmrl added,  “though the investigating wardens could have issued steeper penalties and [could have] sent the case to court,  but declined to take that step.”

(See How snowmobile wolf killer Cody Roberts helped to restore wolf protection.)

Why Aussie hunting habits are globally infamous

Lang and Parker “captured feral pigs,  released them for their dogs,  and uploaded the footage online,”  explained Pip Waller for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation,  but that description by itself scarcely explains why the Lang/Parker case shocked the nation.

Australia,  after all,  has more than 55,000 feral pig hunters,  who kill as many as 1.1 million feral pigs per year.

Australia also slaughters 5.5 million domestic pigs per year for human consumption

Cruel and ruthless Australian massacres of other non-native species,  trapped,  poisoned,  shot,  and shot from aircraft,  are globally infamous.

Among the victims are cats,  camels,  cane toads,  rabbits and “brumbies,”  as wild horses are called Down Under.

Koalas shot from trees

Kangaroos and even koalas,  the national symbols of Australia,  fare no better.

Several hundred koalas were reportedly shot from trees by helicopter gunners in Budj Bim National Park,  Victoria state,  in early April 2025.

“In March,  a massive bushfire burned more than 5,400 acres in the park,  injuring some of the koalas and destroying a large amount of eucalyptus,”  wrote Benji Jones for Vox.

“The government says the controversial program is intended to end the koalas’ suffering from burns and starvation,”  Jones recounted.

But,  Jones added,  the koalas “are not only starving because of the fire,  but because logging and development has destroyed much of their habitat in Victoria.  Advocates have also pointed out,”  Jones said,  “that there are commercial plantations of blue gum eucalyptus around Budj Bim National Park that koalas have come to rely on.

“When those plantations are harvested, the koalas living in them move into Budj Bim,  putting pressure on what natural forests remain in the park.  A fire only makes the situation worse.”

“Kangaroos are not shoes”

As many as 1.3 million kangaroos per year are killed in Australia,  mostly for their hides,  used to make lightweight athletic shoes––or were killed for their hides,  anyhow,  before the success of an international “Kangaroos are not shoes” campaign waged since 2019 by Animal Wellness Action.

“Every one of the world’s leading soccer shoe manufacturers — Nike,  Adidas,  Puma,  New Balance, Mizuno,  ASICS,  Diadora,  Sokito,  and now Umbro — has committed to kangaroo-free shoes,”  exulted Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle on June 26,  2025.

(See “Kangaroos are not shoes” campaign boots Adidas into the goal.)

The crime to many Aussies was exposing it

What Riley Thomas Lang and Marie Ann Parker did that most offended Australian sensibilities appears to have been neither wantonly nor cruelly killing animals,  both of which are much celebrated national traditions,  but rather putting their cruelty on social media for the world to see.

“Videos from Lang and Parker’s social media accounts,”  recounted Pippa Waller,  “showed them restraining wild boars near Manjimup, 290 kilometers south of Perth,  before filming their dogs mauling the animals.

“One clip showed Lang in his underwear,  holding a boar by his leg as dogs attacked his face and ears.  Another captured Parker pinning down a pig while speaking to the camera,  before dogs surrounded the animals.

Cruelty did not just “happen”

“The offenses happened between September 2022 and May 2023,”  Waller said.

But they did not just “happen.”

They were deliberate actions by Lang and Parker,  Magistrate Joanne Andretich reminded the court.

“Death was delayed to enable the offenders to capture the moment.  Both did not care about the stress the pigs were exhibiting,”  Andretich observed.

Reported Waller,  “The case centered on whether Lang and Parker had promoted pig hunting by posting videos online.  While trained dogs can be used to flush out pigs from bushland,  using dogs to attack and bring down feral pigs is unacceptable under state codes of practice.

“Laughing in the background”

“The court was also shown an interview recorded by the Royal SPCA of Australia,  where Lang admitted to catching around 400 pigs with his dogs.”

Added vegan ultramarathoner Andrew Hedgman in a report for Yahoo News,  “Lang was also found to have mistreated the dogs by working them in a manner likely to cause harm.

“The offenses came to light after [the Lang/Parker] recordings were brought to the attention of the Royal SPCA of West Australia in August 2022.

“In the sickening footage,”  Hedgman said,  “pigs could be seen being attacked and tormented by a pack of up to five dogs,  while the offenders encouraged the animals to lunge,  bite and continue their assault for extended periods.

“During the disturbing attacks,  the pair can occasionally be heard laughing in the background.”

“Orchestrated for social media”

“This was not a case against people legally hunting pigs as a form of pest control,”  Royal SPCA of West Australia inspector Genna Haines testified.

“This was about the illegal way the so-called hunting took place,  where already trapped, injured and terrified pigs were held down while dogs were actively encouraged to continue to attack them.

“The pigs suffered prolonged distress while the offenders filmed content for social media,  and in many instances,”  Haines affirmed,  “the offenders can be heard laughing on the videos.

“This was unnecessary and orchestrated animal cruelty for the purposes of social media,”  Haines concluded.

Lang beat one rap that Parker didn’t

Mentioned Waller,  “Lang was found not guilty of one of the charges of promoting a prohibited activity,  based on the video in question.”

This fact,  while trivial beside the gravity of the offenses of which Lang was convicted,  appears to have been of great importance to one Paula Bowden,  who complained to ANIMALS 24-7 after a previous mention of the case in Could cruelty to pigs cases in Hawaii, Vermont, & Australia start a trend?,  “Your article about the two in Australia charged with pig hunting in the south west is incorrect.  Riley is my cousin and he was actually let off on the promoting it on social media,  as it was his girlfriend uploading the content.”

Lang was in fact fined $33,300 in Australian dollars,  markedly more than Parker,  who was fined $19,000 in Australian dollars.

“Spent” convictions

At that,  Lang and Parker got off relatively easily.  Magistrate Andretich suspended $10,000 of each fine,  equivalent to $6,433 in U.S. dollars.

Magistrate Andretich also declared the Lang and Parker convictions “spent,”  meaning that they will not appear on Australian Federal Police records under most circumstances.

Convictions are usually declared “spent” in Australia only after the convicted offenders complete 10 years without further criminal  convictions,  or five years if originally convicted as juveniles.

The Lang/Parker case “is believed to be the first time the RSPCA has successfully convicted feral pig hunters of animal cruelty in Western Australia,”  Waller concluded.

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