$355K needed for neglected animals discovered in Laramie County; stronger animal protections urged
CHEYENNE — The Cheyenne Animal Shelter staff is asking for community support as it takes on the care and rehabilitation of more than 100 animals rescued from a county residence on Friday.
CAS has received 102 animals from a residence in the 200 block of H Bar E Drive, many of which were sick, injured and severely neglected.
“Our team is heartbroken, but we’re ready to help,” CAS director of development and outreach Niki Harrison said. “These animals have endured unimaginable suffering, and they deserve a chance at safety, healing and love.”
The animals were seized as a result of a joint investigation led by Cheyenne Animal Control and Laramie County Sheriff ’s Office detectives. The investigation led to the arrest of Michael Ohern, who was charged with 22 counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals.
In addition to the rescued animals, authorities found 22 deceased animals, according to CAS CEO Britney Tennant. Those that made it to the care of the shelter are on the road to recovery.
“They certainly are adapting really quickly to the routine, and the ones that were maybe too scared to eat the first day or two all seem to be eating now,” Tennant said. “I think that they are coming a long way, and the ones that we were able to treat are responding well to treatment.”
The shelter has a relatively small staff, with a maximum of five animal care staff on a given shift.
To accommodate the unique needs and behaviors of the new shelter residents, the animal care staff is working overtime, Tennant said.
“It’s hard for people to see animals in this condition or to understand how it happens,” Tennant said. “There are very empathetic people that work here, and they’re very compassionate toward and about animals, so there’s a heavy emotional toll.”
Cost of care
Suddenly taking in more than 100 sick, neglected and injured animals doesn’t only have an emotional impact, it also has a financial toll.
Initially, shelter officials estimated they’d need $150,000 to cover the animals’ care for the next 90 days. As they received more animals with more unique needs, that estimate rose to upward of $355,000.
“If we are awarded custody of the animals sooner than 90 days, it would be a lot less,” Tennant said, “because we can move them through the shelter much faster.”
Currently, the shelter is housing the rescued animals, but does not have custody of them, because the investigation into Ohern is still active.
Though Ohern can give up his right to the animals before the 90 days are up, the state doesn’t require a forfeiture until 90 days or court intervention.
For now, all the shelter can do is wait and ask for support, Tennant said.
“I’m always trying to encourage people to remember that the shelter is a safe place and that it’s a good thing that animals are here,” she said.
The shelter sent out a news release Friday afternoon, explaining the situation and asking for donations to support the animals.
“We’re calling on our compassionate community to stand with us,” Harrison said in the release. “Every dollar will help ensure that each of these animals gets the second chance they deserve.”
Donations really are the best the shelter can ask for, Tennant said.
Typically, there are ways to assist staff and the animals up for adoption or foster, like taking dogs for walks, but that’s not an option in this case, since the shelter has yet to be awarded custody.
Still, the community hasn’t limited its support to financial donations. Tennant said that both employees and animals have been well fed, with residents bringing in meals daily.
Legislating animal welfare
The public has been vocal through social media comments, demanding that Ohern never again own an animal. Regardless of public opinion, the courts are limited in how they can respond to cases of alleged animal abuse or neglect.
“This is really a consequence of having very little animal welfare law in place in our state,” Tennant said. “If people are upset that things like this are happening, the place for those changes to be made is at the policy level, with our elected officials. And that’s the conversation that needs to be had in a really serious way.”
If convicted, Ohern faces up to two years in prison and/ or a $5,000 fine for each felony count, as well as forfeiture of the animals. If he had been arrested a few years ago, the animal cruelty laws would have been even more lenient.
In 2024, Wyoming passed new animal cruelty laws, which expanded the definition of animal cruelty, created a new misdemeanor offense, increased the maximum fine for first-time offenders, and made second or subsequent offenses a felony.
For years, advocates have attempted to address a few animal abuse statutes, with some success. But it’s a slow, uphill battle, state Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday.
“It took us the better part of six years to get that bill through and actually get that bill into law,” Brown said. “And it took a lot of massaging — there was a lot of work that went on behind the scenes to try to get some people that were not in favor of that particular law on board and be able to vote yes.”
The greatest barrier to getting support for this type of legislation is ensuring that the needs of rural farmers and ranchers are met. It is not uncommon for farmers in rural parts of the state to euthanize their own animals, and there is a concern that any new legislation around animal welfare could criminalize that process.
“The ag community can tend to be at odds with the companion animal welfare community,” Tennant said. “We just haven’t really figured out how to differentiate those things in our state statute.”
At the same time, not having laws in the past has put Wyoming in the national spotlight.
An essential part of passing the new legislation in 2024 was a Sublette County wolf incident that gained international attention earlier that same year.
Articles describing a Wyoming man running a wolf down on a snowmobile, taping the injured animal’s mouth shut and parading it around a local bar before killing it highlighted the state’s incredibly limited animal welfare laws.
“That made such top news across the country,” Brown said. “Wyoming looked really bad that we didn’t have a felony on the books for animal cruelty.”
Brown echoed Tennant’s call for residents to talk to their representatives about animal welfare, but he encouraged people to educate themselves on exactly what they want before doing so.
Just asking for stiffer penalties doesn’t create a clear path forward, Brown said. Advocating for specific policies or specific aspects of policies does.
“I would ask people to do a gut check and actually ask, what does a stiffer penalty actually look like?” Brown said. “What would bring justice to that individual?”
Next steps
As of Tuesday, Ohern’s bond had not been set, and his initial court appearance had not been scheduled. This is still an active investigation, and all suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Due to the ongoing nature of Ohern’s charges and subsequent court proceedings, the animals are not yet available for adoption or foster, but the shelter will share updates on its website as more information becomes available.
Community members who wish to help can make a lifesaving difference by donating to support the shelter’s emergency response efforts. Donations can be made at cheyenneanimalshelter. org.
This story was published on Oct. 15, 2025.