Female hunter, 36, who bragged about killing and skinning husky pup pleads not animal cruelty and gets six-month reprieve
- Amber Rose Barnes, 36, of Martin City, Montana, received a six-month suspended prison sentence
- As part of her sentence, she must attend a hunting safety class and is not allowed to use her shotgun during this time.
- In September, she bragged about killing and skinning the dog, which she claimed was a small wolf, and posted it on her social media.
A female hunter, who had bragged about killing and skinning a husky, has pleaded not to fight against animal cruelty.
Amber Rose Barnes, 36, of Martin City, Montana, received a six-month suspended prison sentence. As part of her sentence, she must attend a hunting safety class and is not allowed to use her shotgun during this time.
She was charged in October after she bragged about the September murder on Facebook, where she claimed to have shot a small wolf.
Barnes was duped by the thousands at the time when people immediately noticed that the animal she killed was a Siberian husky puppy.
Amber Rose Barnes, 36, of Martin City, Montana, was suspended for six months for animal cruelty. As part of her sentence, she must attend a hunting safety class and is not allowed to use her shotgun during this time.
She was charged in October after she bragged about the murder in September on Facebook, where she claimed to have shot a small wolf
She then defended her performance at the hearing.
“During this time, safety was my top priority. This animal was growling, howling and approaching me as if it was going to eat me.
“Yes, I made a mistake…anyway, yes, I would still have shot it because it was aggressive and headed straight for me!” she said.
Barnes was not charged with a hunting violation — because “the incident did not involve an animal within the agency’s jurisdiction,” the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks confirmed.
Barnes sparked online outrage when she posted a series of graphics of herself with the lifeless pup online.
Along with a collage of five photos of herself with the dead dog, she wrote, “So this morning I went out for a solo predator hunt for an autumn black bear, but I got the chance to take another predator wolf pup.” 2022 was a great feeling texting my husband and saying I just smoked a wolf pup #firstworld #onelesspredatorMT.”
Barnes had ventured into Flathead National Forest in Doris Creek that morning, sixty miles south of Glacier National Park, looking for a black bear, when she encountered what she thought was a wolf.
Barnes (pictured with her boyfriend) sparked outrage online when she posted a series of graphics of herself with the lifeless pup online
In one particularly gruesome photo, Barnes posed with the Husky sprawled out in her flatbed truck as she smiled, smacking the dog’s lifeless head and grabbing hold of her shotgun.
Even once her mistake was established, Barnes defended her actions and told her Facebook audience she would kill the dog again.
Barnes’ partner Frank Tallent also defended her at the time when the online mob descended and dubbed her the “Montana butcher.”
“Mistakes happen big f***ing deal,” he wrote.
“Yeah, my girlfriend was out hunting and shot a dog that was dumped in the woods.”
The deceased puppy turned out to be one of nearly a dozen Husky puppies left in the woods.
Barnes did have a valid hunting license when the incident happened
Many of the puppies had parvovirus, an often fatal disease for dogs.
In the aftermath of the shooting, authorities attempted to determine whether Barnes had a license to hunt wolves, which she said she had.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks later confirmed to Fox News that Barnes had purchased the correct license.
In Montana, hunting wolves is legal with a permit. An individual may legally kill or capture 20 wolves per season.
