The Place Where Ludington Talks

No More Giggles: DNR SWAT Team Mobilizes to Kill Bambi

I don't know what is the most outrageous part of this story: the military raid on an animal shelter temporarily housing a young deer, the overdone capture and killing of the deer to satisfy State regulations the DNR decided to enforce, the massive cost of the operation to the taxpayers of Wisconsin, the potential legal costs to those same taxpayers, or the DNR Supervisor's rationale at the end of the story. It just goes to show you: when government agencies not typically associated with police activities create militaristic assault teams, they are going to use them. The Michigan DNR has done the same with domestic pig raids on our farms as related here. Wake up and send a message to your representatives that this is not what tax money should be used for.

Two weeks ago, Ray Schulze was working in a barn at the Society of St. Francis no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wis., when officials swarmed the shelter with a search warrant.

“[There were] nine [Department of Natural Resources] agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” Mr. Schulze told WISN 12. “It was like a SWAT team.”

The agents were there to retrieve a baby deer named Giggles that was dropped off by a family worried she had been abandoned by her mother, the station reported. Wisconsin law forbids the possession of wildlife.

Giggles the Fawn, hunted down and killed in an unsportsmanlike manner by the Wisconsin DNR for being 'possessed'

“I said the deer is scheduled to go to the wildlife reserve the next day,” Mr. Schulze told the station. “I was thinking in my mind they were going to take the deer and take it to a wildlife shelter, and here they come carrying the baby deer over their shoulder. She was in a body bag. I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ He said, ‘That’s our policy,’ and I said, ‘That’s one hell of a policy.’”

Department of Natural Resources Supervisor Jennifer Niemeyer told WISN 12 that the law requires DNR agents to euthanize wild animals because of their potential danger.

The station asked if the raid could have been done in a less costly manner by making a phone call first.

“If a sheriff’s department is going in to do a search warrant on a drug bust, they don’t call them and ask them to voluntarily surrender their marijuana or whatever drug that they have before they show up,” the supervisor responded.

Shelter president Cindy Schultz said she plans to sue the agency.

“They went way over the top for a little, tiny, baby deer,” Miss Schultz said.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Willy on August 5, 2013 at 10:42am

I am fed up with local police and other Governmental agencies acting like Gestapo agents. This "swat team" mentality is getting out of hand. Add to that the common opinion among Government agencies that proper search warrants and other legal procedures are considered irrelevant and we are quickly changing non military law enforcement into radicalized domestic storm troopers.