Greg Gianforte, the Republican governor of Montana, is a real tough guy — as long as the target of his attacks has no chance to defend itself. The man who famously body-slammed a reporter for asking him a question about health care went hunting just outside of Yellowstone National Park in December, where he shot and killed a mountain lion that was being tracked and monitored by the National Park Service, according to The Washington Post.
On its face, nothing illegal happened here. The 5-year-old mountain lion, identified by its research number M220, was outside the protected areas of Yellowstone. Gianforte reportedly has a license to hunt mountain lions — an improvement over a February 2021 outing in which he shot and killed a monitored wolf that he trapped using a technique that he lacked the certification for. And killing tracked animals is allowed if they wander into areas where hunting is permitted.
