Courtesy of WTHR

This young deer -- named "Dani -- was rescued by Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple who rescued an injured fawn they named "Dani" and nursed it back to health should not be charged with a crime, a state agency said on Friday, reversing its stance after thousands of people expressed outrage on social media.

Jeff and Jennifer Counceller faced misdemeanor charges of illegally possessing a wild animal after they brought the injured fawn to their Connersville, Ind., home more than two years ago. They said they planned to nurse her back to health and release her.

When the Indiana Department of Natural Resources sent an officer to their property last summer to kill Dani under department rules, she was gone from her pen. The state discourages residents raising wild animals because of the threat of disease spreading.

The Councellers have said they do not know who left the gate open, but it was not them. Dani has been in the wild since then.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence got involved in the case after 60,000 people demanded on social media that the charges against the couple be dropped.

A legal defense fund received more than $2,300 in pledges and the couple made an appearance on "Good Morning America."

"The Department of Natural Resources today will ask that the charges be dismissed," a spokesman said, after the agency reviewed the matter at the request of the governor. The final decision on the case will be made by a local prosecutor.

"At the end of the day, the deer survived and that's all that matters," Jeff Counceller, who is a Connersville police officer, said earlier this week. "She's getting to live a hopefully long life and that's all that matters."

Previous story: Police officer, wife face charges after nursing injured deer back to health

Courtesy of WTHR

A police officer in Indiana and his wife face charges for possession of this injured deer they rescued.

An Indiana couple says they were just trying to nurse an injured deer back to health when they took the little animal in, but now they're facing criminal charges, according to local media reports.

Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller rescued the little deer, which he said he found with wounds on it haunches on a porch during a police call two years ago, NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis reported.

"I was gonna put her back in the woods, but I seen (sic) the injuries and I knew they were life threatening," Counceller told WTHR. So he and wife Jennifer nursed the deer -- which they named "Dani" -- back to health and built a pen for the animal in their backyard near the woods until the deer grew stronger, WTHR reported.

The couple told WTHR it wasn't a secret that they had the deer, and they had tried calling several deer habitats across the state but found they were too full at the time.

"She would run around. She would play. We would feed her crack corn and deer chow and other things," Jeff Counceller told WTHR. "Again, we knew someday that we needed to turn her loose."

Courtesy of WTHR

The deer, named "Dani," reportedly escaped the day state officials were scheduled to have her euthanized.

But last year, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources found that the couple should be prosecuted for the illegal possession of a white-tailed deer, according to The Indianapolis Star. State officials were going to have the deer euthanized because she had reportedly been around humans too long, but the deer escaped the day it was going to happen when a gate was left open, WTHR reported.

The Councellers could be punished with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for the misdemeanor charge against them, the Star reported.

In the last few days, the couple's conundrum has garnered international attention. A Facebook page pushing for the charges to be dropped had more than 19,000 likes by Tuesday evening. A similar petition on Change.org had more than 16,000 supporters by Tuesday evening.

John Waudby, who created the Facebook page on Saturday, told WTHR he thinks "eventually public pressure will drop these charges."

Carmel, Ind., resident Suzanne Murray told the Star in an email that she finds "the actions of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) in this case outrageous and nonsensical."

A jury trial is expected in March, and a special prosecutor and judge have been assigned to the case, WTHR reported.

Nicole Pence and Emily Longnecker, both of NBC affiliate WTHR, contributed to this story.