There was a similar case in Oregon a few years ago. The state came down hard on a couple who had taken-in an abandoned fawn (as I recall it had some physical abnormality which would have made it unlikely to survive in the wild) and nursed it back to health. The little deer of course bonded with the family and that fact alone would have made it (the deer) vulnerable if returned to the wild ... no longer fearful of people.

It's pretty hard to understand a state or municipality getting aggressive with people (criminal charges) for doing what any compassionate person who cares about animals would feel responsible and compelled to do.

Bambi vs. the Bureaucrats http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2007/09/18/bambi-vs-the-bureaucrats.html

Previous stories about Snowball and Bucky http://blog.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/2007/11/previous_stories_about_snowbal.html

When growing up in the midwest my family would recue all types of injured or orphaned animals and raise them, then turn them loose. We lived out in the rural areas and we would teach them how to forage. We raised countless raccoons, squirrels, owls, ducks, hawks and once a fawn whose mother was hit by a car. I remember the day we found him as he was trying to nurse from his dead mother on the side of a country road. My mom was driving my brother and I to school and she stopped and put the little guy in the trunk of the car and continued on. He was only a couple of days old. He took right to a bottle with my mothers help and when he was old enough to go it alone we let him go with a herd of other deer we knew of in the area. They accepted him right away. To think that today we could have gone to jail for what we did is henious and just plain stupid.

My sense is that, even if the charges aren't dropped, no jury will convict them. I just hope their defense attorney can get the job done for them with a very small bill.

Unfortunately, we may never see a follow-up story on this.

So many dangerous criminals to worry about and, they waste their counties taxpayers money prosecuting someone helping a wounded animal? Oh yeah let's make an "example" out of those low life animal helpers. Ridiculous!

Same thing happened in Hastings, Neb. I think it was that city. A teacher had a tree removed from his yard and then found a nest of baby squirrels had been living inside the dying tree. He fostered the squirrels and being a teacher took this opportunity to teach his classes about the little animals. The fish and game dept got wind of it and confiscated the animals and fined him something like $275 because he had no license to keep nor to rehabilitate wildlife.

These rambos can ticket you for keeping bird nests, feathers, etc for lack of a permit also. Ridiculous state of our union when budget cuts etc cause these so called public servants to be so over worked that they have time to ticket people actually doing some good for wildlife.

Ironic thing is, had they killed it and eaten it, all would be fine. This world is growing more pathetic by the day lately . . .

The country has done a fantastic job of dumbing down it's people, this is why democracies fail because the populous is ignorant, emotional and easily played. Wake up people this is more corrupt incompetent laws made by corrupt incompetent leaders, when are we going to hold them responsible and stop letting them pass the hot potato of blame back and forth while they do nothing but screw us? If all you are willing to choose is corruption then all you will get is corruption and there will be no hope and no change. My hopes and dreams is that people of the US will wake up and fire all of our so called leaders that have been selling the country out. To develop a unity and a desire to work together to build our nation rather then let a select few make massive profits destroying it.To vote responsibly and put people in office that will serve the country over special interests and throw the ones serving special interests over the country out. My fear is that nothing will change and all the guns in the world will not protect us from ourselves. Sell your people, future and economy out on wars for the greed of a few, export jobs for slave labor and the freedom to pollute your heart out, import desperate people for slave labor, destroy your schools and teachers, dumb the people down, feed them violence and filth, create laws that make otherwise law abiding people criminals, fill your prisons with non violent criminals and send the violent criminals back out on the streets because of overcrowding. Don't forget to make guns a right and don't require any training, testing, licensing or registration then use it as an excuse to take them away from law abiding citizens. Also make it almost impossible for the mentally ill to receive treatment until they commit some horrific crime. Sooner or later you will have the public begging to take all of their rights away just to be safe, then bingo you have total control.

When a neighboring farmer brought an abandoned fawn to our place as we had goats, my mother simply drove to the nearest forest service office and filled out the paperwork to get certified to take care of wild animals. Problem solved before it took place. After that anyone in the area, farmers or forest service employees, would bring such foundlings to our place and we would just raise them with our goats, when they reached a certain age they would take off and join the local deer herd.

Children killed by gunman in Ct.

Robbers tie up and kill family in home ivasion.

Three young teens raped by their music teacher.

Adult men are seeking mental counseling from abuse by their Priest as children.

Husband and wife prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for nursing back to health a young fawn.

Sources say the electric chair for this criminal duo may be an option.

'Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture???

Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture???

Yes, I do. You stated violent crimes that are under the jurisdiction of police officers and compared them to environmental offenses under the jurisdiction of Dept. Natural Resources.

This guy is a COP. If the cops were the ones who had jurisdiction over this, do you even think we'd be talking about it? It would have been squashed the microsecond it hit the Sargent's desk.

People who are trained to enforce environmental regulations aren't trained to stop or arrest the Adam Lanza's of this world. And cops who are already stretched too thin protecting the citizenry don't have the time or manpower to enforce DNR regulations.

All of that said, DNR could have and should have handled this matter differently. They let their own anger over the deer being hidden (I mean "escaping") cloud their judgement. From that point onward, they had a score to settle.

The law was established so people would not try to make wild animals pets without the skills to do it right, Public health reasons and or to keep bubba from raisin 'em for food. Good ideas all. It was never intended for a one time only animal rescuer to end up in jail with heavy monetary fines. They tried to find a home in a bona fide deear shelter for crying out loud. Yestderday an article where a school principal had a 10 year old arrested for picking up a $5 bill off the floor. The cops cuffed the kid to a pipe for 3 hours. All these cases prove there are too many gubmint employees and their ranks need to be thinned a bit until some common sense starts getting displayed as they do their jobs.

Look into who the cop may have issued a tkt to or arrested. Probably a connection to the guy from wildlife officer who came over to arrest the officer and his wife for taking care of the deer. We are getting more third world like. Probability of this being retribution for something is high. The animal was not the real reason, only the vehicle for carrying out the vendetta.

First the charges are misdemeanors not felony. Yes it is only a deer, and deer while known to attack people dont usually. The law is clear unless licensed people should not have wild animals and deer do qualify. There are reasons for this - 1) animals raised around humans often dont survive if released into the wild; 2) wild animals in captivity have been known to turn on humans - examples are all to frerquent the woman who had her face ripped off by a chimp or how about the case in Ohio last year where all the guys wild animals got loose. There have also been cases where someone raised a deer and hunters knoew of it and came onto private property and killed it - thus endangering people who owned the private property.

The law needs to be enforced with the application of ggod sense and reason, slap these two on the wrist confiscate the deer and put it in an appropriate deer sanctuary. What I find fascinating about this story (and I have followed it locally because it is local news) is the cop claims he didn't know it was illegal to have the deer. WOnder if he stopped me for a misdemeanor and I pled ignorance of the law would he let me off?

Uhhh....right. Is empathy being bred out of the human race? Inherited or environmental? Does it matter?

Compassion for wild animals that need a helping hand should not be rewarded with a charge that reflects criminal action against the police officer and his wife. They did the right thing, and they should not be made to suffer for it. Let's go out and use the criminal justice system to catch the bad guys and quit wasting tax dollars on things like this.

Run Bambi run! This happenen in Minnesota just this last spring and the cops just came on the owners property and blasted the deer right in front of the family. Have a heart.

Does "jury nullification" mean anything any more? I know if I were somehow called to jury duty for such a case, I would lie, cheat, and steal (well, ok, not steal) to the best of my ability to get on that jury and then proceed to hang it up. Message for the cowardly idiot they have for a DA: "Better luck next time, Dick Tracy."

Go after the hard crimminals.....we lived in rural Colorado and many people helped animals get back to nature no problem then.......

This just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.

Bahahah, yep...lets fine and jail people trying to help animals. While we are at it lets provide a free attorney to an evil woman who imprisoned 11 people with mental handicaps to gain 250,000 dollars. I mean really...these deer people are EVIL. We must treat them like the criminals they are and give the not so evil lady three squares and a cot because she deserves it.

We are in BIG trouble people.

I have a friend who grew up in Indiana...I once asked him why he had moved out of Indiana...his answer "Obviously you have never been there...." said it all....I shrugged and mentioned Larry Bird, former Boston Celtics great, and a native of Indiana....and pointed out that Indiana produces some very good basketball players...he said "Basketball is about all there is for a kid to do there,in Indiana...did you notice that he did not return ?"

Well, I suppose Larry Bird could go back and find some excitement by hiding injured deer on his property.

a good cop gets charged with crimes while bad cops get away with murder. this is whats wrong with this country, you cant be a poltican, cop, judge or any goverment postion unless your a bad person and the big bosses make sure of that. and if your a good person, then well your going to have a hard time. this is why goverment and corporations dominate much america. this is outrageous and whoever the low life that bringed charges on this cop and wife should never come out in public again. i bet they dont charge a cop when hes killing somone but charge a cop who helps others? this is crazy.

"Basketball is about all there is for a kid to do there,in Indiana...did you notice that he did not return ?"

liam - Actually, Larry Bird returned to Indiana after his career as a Celtic, to coach the Pacers. He's been associated with that team, and presumably a resident in that state, until 2012, when health issues caused him to resign a Team President.

This is a story about a stupid law being enforced in a idiotic manner, which does not indict the entire state as some horrible place to live.

If you don't think stupid laws exist in other states, then you don't pay much attention to what goes on in the news.

This is a bunch of BS, so what they should have let it die?

While I believe that it should not be against the law to help injured wild animals, we must obey the law or suffer the consquences. These people broke the law and now should have to pay for the crime. Just because you or I believe something should be legal that is not does not give us the right to break that law and get away with it scott free. The fact that the Police Officer committed this crime - The punishment should be more severe than someone else.

So let me get this straight,....if you help wild life, IE: Deer in this perticular situation, you can go to jail for helping planet earth keep it's resources alive, but in the very same token our government's have no problem issuing hunting licenses to make a buck, (excuse to pun) while decreasing the population of animals. How the hell does this make any sense? O.k., i get over population kills off other animals, but humans are over populated now (at 7 billion currently) and we don't issue hunting license for that do we?......oh wait, we have wars for human population controll. Sorry, my bad.

@concererned999: remember those words you spoke at the next hearing on immigration reform.

not only that but they were going to kill that deer, complete morons

And people wonder why our country is going down the toilet.

Ok, really? Prosecute kind people for doing a kind and selfless deed? To help a deer in need... Well I have to ask, what if they chose to eat it? Would they be prosecuted for that too? A young deer? This is outrageous!!! He is a police officer, a man trained to save lives... And he is in trouble for doing that very thing? We honor those that save the lives of every other animal, yet these idiots feel the need to waste the tax payers money and possibly tarnish this mans career for doing a good thing??? I object! This is stupidity!

Warren -

I would have been disappointed if there hadn't been at least one cold-hearted, unthinking asshat. Might just as well be you.

Another conservative value I guess...

@ forkup - Can't Warren just be a complete ass-hat without being labeled conservative? Why does everybody's opinion have to be a political one? You should really get out more and quit watching so much tv!

My comment was only to illustrate how when the shoe is on the other foot the public gets a deaf ear from the law.

So, let me get this right, a nice family doing the right thing can get prosecuted for an act of kindness to a wild animal. One of the differences between man and beast is the ability to care for creatures of another species. It's no wonder the world keeps getting less civilized every day. If they are going to punish this couple, then they need to punish all of Rawlins, Wyoming since that place is full of tame deer.

Fork, I would think this is another example of the over reach of the liberal progressive socalist government. That excess regulation for the control of peoples lives. To attempt to censor the internet so we will only get to read and hear what the anti american anti freedom of choice progressivies deem " best for us" because the government is acting in our best interest!

This is clearly a liberal control item!

That being said to counter the hate of the fork liberal. I agree this should not be a political event but on of common sense and compassion.

What people commonly mistake is that the officers are responsible for sorting out who is guilty and who is innocent. All the officers do is enforce the law. the courts are meant for sorting it out. And that is exactly what they are doing. I did not see in the article how long the couple had the deer in their care. If the agency told the couple that the deer was better and they did it not release it then i can see why they are pressing charges. The unfortunate part is that once wild animals become friendly with humans they can become dangerous. How would you feel if you look out side and you see your children playing with a wild deer? That is why they wanted euthanized the animal. The officers just enforce the government's laws. let the courts sort it out. No harm no foul

This is Living proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Pathetic. Dont we have bigger problems to worry about and spend tax dolars on than a nice couple who nursed a sick animal. This is just stupid. seriously. WOW, just WOW! Remind me next time i see a sick uinjured animal to leave it there to suffer. :-/

What in the world is wrong with our government agencies? What kind of people are working at the DNR? Let people be compassionate. I hope the people pushing this get so much bad publicity they'll never pull a stunt like this again. To the nice couple that helped one of God's creatures, don't sweat the bureaucracy, you did nothing wrong. Those people are nuts! I hope it won't change the way you are not one little bit. If this does go to Court, I hope the judge throws it out and fines the DNR.

Yes the law is the law but who has space for the library required for those thousands of books, or the time to memorize the damn things? Ignorance of the law isn't a defense we are told. Yet who could possibly know every little thing they do which might be unlawful. Crazy times here America. And I think it might get worse before it gets better . . .

Had we stuck with the ten commandments we'd be better off and there would be fewer attorneys.

warrren

This is where I get to say " too bad but the LAW is the law "

Book'em Danno

What a moronic comment; At one time it was against the LAW to teach a black person to read and write. Never confuse the LAW with what's right.

warren was being sarcastic. Geeezz, he did not mean what he said to be taken literally, people.

shawn: "...the liberal progressive socialist government." Common sense and compassion?

"Liberal" (Encarta)

"tolerant of different views and standards of behavior in others."

"Favoring gradual reform, especially political reforms that extend democracy, distribute wealth more evenly, and protect the personal freedom of the individual."

"Somebody who favors tolerance or open-mindedness."

Ya know, Shawn, I don't see anything there the least bit offensive - quite the contrary. You might have a look at 'progressive' and 'socialist' while you're at it.

Anyone can hijack a word and use it for their own purposes. Like "Honest Joe's Used Cars." Look up the word "honest." Going by the definition would you then believe everything Honest Joe" says? LOL!

Intelligent life on Mars? We should be searching for it in Indiana.

When the judicial system in the state of Indiana cannot itself distinguish the difference between the intent of the law and the letter of the law, then it has no business being in the law business. The intent of the law: to prevent domestication of a native species which could, if repeated frequently enough, cause a complete disruption of the natural ecosystem, we get it. Good law. But don't confuse the intent by making it Biblical in its interpretation. These people were acting humanely. It's what humans are supposed to do. It's actually even based on the word 'human'. You just have to add an 'e' to see it.

Maybe in Indiana, the right thing to do is to make sure you've got a gun on you at all times: you never know when you're going to need to blow out Bambi's brains to end the suffering, seeing that saving him is a criminal act punishable by fines and prison time.

Indiana might just have to consider changing the name of Fort Wayne to Fort Wayne LaPierre after this gaffe, in honor of another earthly entity without evidence of a soul.

Shawn3179

Fork, I would think this is another example of the over reach of the liberal progressive socalist government. That excess regulation for the control of peoples lives

Hey Shawn, you DO know that Indiana is a red state, right?

Nope. Money and power. How better for a governmental organization to spend their time?

Corrupt governments always abuse their people.

They have to justify their existence somehow.

mpa - this is indeed all about the money. The state gets to press charges, impose a fine and then the couple get some jail time which the state/county gets more money for. Not one shred of common sense but lots of greed.

This isn't about the money. This is about the fact that DNR made arrangements to kill that deer, and the Counceller's thwarted that effort by opening up the gate and letting the deer escape.

Once that happened, it was clear to DNR that a challenge was set before them by this couple and they were not about to back down. This became a battle of wills, not money.

No one is willing to say it, but DNR is correct in their position that wild animals can't be caged up in people's back yards. If my neighbor can keep a wild deer, why can't I keep a wild buffalo or wild mountain lion? The law itself isn't nuts, but the way DNR enforced it over a harmless fawn makes the law seem nuts.

Where DNR failed is that they should have realized they are working with a police officer here, and that's going to make this a public relations nightmare should the story get released nationally. The Councellers ain't dumb and they know that too. No doubt they (or their lawyer) worked the strings to make this story national. I agree that at this point, no jury will convict this couple. But it is going to cost them 10s of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees.

DNR should have worked harder with this couple. They should have given more credence to the emotional bond they formed with the animal and that euthanizing it was not an option for the Councellors. They also should have recognized how vulnerable their position would be... enforcing a very weak example of a valid law against a POLICE OFFICER (a well respected member of the community).

Where did it say the Councellors were the ones who opened the gate? And just so you know the Indiana Governor is having the whole thing investigated.

And Harold you are right that it is not the law but rather how Ind, DNR is going after this.

It's all about the state not getting the revenue from a license to have the deer. It's ALWAYS about the $$$

I knew someone would make a crack about hunting. Hunting deer is not blowing Bambi away for a tropphy - most hunters hunt for sport and food - if hunters dont eat the meat themselves they distribute it to food banks. (in pointof fact there was a story just recently that venison donations are down to food banks because of the economy more hunters are actually keeping the meat.)

What is cruel is that we all want the predators eliminated - kill those bobcats, mtn lions, and wolves because they either threaten the cute little forrest creatures or threaten agribusiness - without a strong biodiverse ecosystem with top predators down to the smallest prey animals we have a bigger problem. The white tail deer population in this country has exploded, without the predators to cull the week, the heards are getting weaker, the food supplies are getting scarcer. What is more cruel hunting a deer or letting it starve? I know that 10 years ago Indiana as a state actually opened state parks up to hunting because the deer population was so out of control ad the deer were starving. ANd lets not talk about the deer carnage on the sides of the road.

Killing for sport. Never did understand that at all. What do you tell St. Peter - "I enjoy killing"?

At least this police officer showed compassion not like many other police officers who seem to think their badge (and gun) givesthem the right to shoot dogs even when the animals are in their own yard and home. See the latest shooting of dogs outside a high school, five bullets from a hand gun then shot with a shotgun. Kay the dogs were fighting in the back of a pickup but that was overkill. They are lucky people on the street weren't hit by ricochets.

Murderers get let go because someone perceives that their rights may have been violated.

Hyperbole just KILLS a valid argument. This may be a popular sentiment, but it's absolutely false to present it as a common occurrence. It is INCREDIBLY rare for anyone who commits a murder in the USA to be set free due to a "rights violation".

It has happened and it can happen again. But to present it as though it happens all the time is hyperbole.

Thanks again lawyers of America for doing your best to destroy this once great country.

No, the problem's not with the lawyers but the average American citizen who does not understand laws and the legal system and how it works. So many people are crying that "their rights" are being violated, but in my observation about 90% of Americans cannot correctly recite the 10 Amendments found in the Bill of Rights and explain what they mean. On several occasions I've asked gun rights supporters to recite the 10 Amendments and most of them can only list three or four of the 10 Amendments. if anything, you should've said "Thanks again American citizens for falling asleep in your high school civics class." It's hard to argue that murderers are set free when their rights are being violated when you don't know which rights are being violated or even if there is a rights violation.

WallaceJ.

"Thanks again lawyers of America for doing your best to destroy this once great country."

It's not the lawyers that are the problem. It IS the lawmakers, Federal, State and local, who,in order to justify their jobs, as well as to control the masses, think up and pass laws, with the belief that people are incapable of protecting themselves, or, working things out among themselves. Eventually, if things continue on this path, will have laws which encompass every aspect of our life. Right now, lawyers are our only real protection from law enforcement abusing their power and interpreting laws to suit themselves.

Michael-412302

"No, the problem's not with the lawyers but the average American citizen who does not understand laws and the legal system and how it works."

The aveerage American citizen

And that's EXACTLY what this case is about.

By hiding that deer (or allowing it to escape for a few hours), they metaphorically "flipped the bird" to the DNR folks and started a war.

When DNR saw they had been played, they got mad and decided to play hardball. What they failed to realize is that they're playing hardball with a very respected member of the community (a cop).

Imagine if the person at the core of this dispute was a repeated felon instead of a cop. I believe most people would take DNR's side if that were the case.

Harold, I think you're wrong. OK, maybe Michael Vick might have a tough time being taken seriously, but anyone of any means at all could have done just as well as the cop in rubbing the egg on the DNR's face.

yep, and the sad part is, they are going to spend thousands to get that 500

Sort of begs the question "why aren't the bird washers arrested for (fill in the blank)"? Pissant people can find something negative in even the most generous and caring ocurrance. For some unknown reason, they believe it somehow elevates them (to what?).

The trick is to avoid publicity. Avoid letting neighborhood kids get involved. Avoid media. There are a lot of rescues that go on every day. These good samaritans aren't prosecuted because our public servants are not aware of their actions toward wildlife.

We in America are being separated from the environment more almost daily. We must PAY for the right to visit our wilderness areas, pay for permits to hunt and fish, etc., etc. After our wilderness is confiscated by bureaucrats, it's sold back to us for recreation - camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, etc. There's something very wrong about this.

Nice try, but this happened in Indiana. A state where Romney beat the President by 11 percentage points.

@ET-2836701 -- apparently something is amiss -- you somehow learned to read (maybe not comprehend) and how to write (maybe nothing sensible) and now you have a little computer. The article wasn't about politics, but you dumb a**ed pee party republicans just can't get over the fact that their is a black man with more brains than all of you put together. Remember a**wipe you're a loser and typical to your party you and your people never learned anything about reading comprehension. As Gov. Bobby Jindall said you're with the "STUPID PARTY"

Ah. Just when I thought reason might prevail. All of a sudden it goes from a DNR thing to a racist thing. Intoleranceof others (and money) is the reason this type of silly stuff happens.

Does your mommy know you talk like this?

Torchbearer, I sympathize and mostly agree with your post, but you have provided enough information that you could probably be prosecuted by some fish and game dept rambo, the squirrel trapped and killed. You might think it's god's way but our public servants see it otherwise. They like their offices and want to keep them. If you're going to rehabilitate wildlife, don't publicize it in any way. Or maybe better yet sign up as a volunteer at a rehab facility and then really do some good in a big way.

It isn't really that difficult to get certified by the USDA to care for wildlife whether injured, or abandoned infants. When a farmer brought us a newborn fawn, my mother just told us to take care of it as if it were one of the baby goats, jumped in the car, drove to the nearest forest service office, filled out the paperwork and was home with her certification before the sun set.

to Den O'Synn -- Have you looked into wildlife rehabilitation. In most states you have to go through the game and fish commission (or equivalent) and instead of using common sense, jump through a bunch of bull$hlt hoops. I just checked for my state and it is not an easy or cheap process. Why on earth was something like this regulated in the first place? If people abuse and/or neglect animals there are already other laws against that.

I should say that I work for my state government, but even I can see that some of the regulations in place are stupid. I totally understand the need to keep industry from polluting and keep people from drinking and driving, etc. These are things interfer with the rights of others.

Why make it illegal to help wildlife. After all the animal would have died without help. If someone tries to help and the animal dies anyway, so what, at least it had a chance? Looking back, as a child my family broke this law by helping injured animals. I remember bottle feeding baby squirrels as a child.

I'm with you 'torch'. Where does it say that we humans have more right to existence here on the planet than any other animal? Frankly, for the most part, I find animals friendlier and better company than most people I've recently met.

Agnes, perhaps your problem is that you're attempting to go through the state. My mother went to an office of the U.S. Forest Service, not state, federal. Perhaps we were helped by the fact that we already had an existing facility, the establishment of which I assume is what you meant by not being cheap. I don't remember mom mentioning having to pay any fees. We had a barn, appropriately fenced pens and pasture for baby goats, goats milk, and since fawns and kids are born at the same time of year, we also had the colostomy required to jump start the fawns immune system. Plus we had motherly nanny goats to adopt them.

Let me get this straight...the little squirrel eats her nuts? Wow, too bad the Ed Sullivan Show is long gone, that act would fit in just fine between the Beatles and the plate-spinner.

It's not the government ,it's the mentally challenged that seem to get into the woodwork and then it's hard to get them out !!!

Looks like all receipients of government welfare should run for their "deer" life, cuz Social Security Admin and Dept of Human Services may start euthanizing those whe are on welfare too long and got use to it to the point they are unable to take care of themselves :)

Now THAT'S a good idea, smooth.