Reward Posted For Arrest Of Steer Puncher [AUDIO]

A steer at the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo appears to have been deliberately injured sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Colleen Campbell, with the UW Ag Extension Office and youth educator for Natrona County, said that there has been a reward posted for information about who might have hurt the steer.

Reward posted:

"They should contact the Natrona County Sheriff's Office and they will route them to the officer that's in charge of this investigation, and upon conviction, there is a 1,000-dollar reward--it's actually slightly over a thousand--for anyone who would provide us with any information leading to the arrest of the individual or individuals that were involved."

Ms. Campbell said in a Friday interview that the standard of care for animals at the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo is rigorous and intentionally hurting an animal goes against everything involved in raising livestock.

Goes against everything:

"And it has broken kids' hearts to see this bulging eye socket that this animal has and know the pain that he was in. It goes against, totally against the nature of our Four H and FFA kids are learning, and they want to help in finding the person responsible for this."

The steer was healthy enough to be put in the auction Saturday morning. Campbell noted that the steer has had medication, and that law requires disclosure of the time the medication will still be in the animal's system.

Meds disclosure:

"It's more like aspirin to people, putting it in layman's terms. The withdrawal time is four days; to err on the side of caution the exhibitor is waiting 10. That will be announced at the sale."

The number for the Natrona County Sheriff's Office is 235-9282. In a follow-up interview today (Monday), Campbell said the steer did sell on Saturday, and the reward is up to 1,725 dollars, and the case number is 11-045738.