When a Louisiana household agreed to nurse a blind deer again to well being, they have been trying to do the best factor and did not need any bother. However that is precisely what they obtained final December.
In 2018, a lady in Baton Rouge discovered a blind fawn that had been deserted by its mom. The lady contacted Jen Sibley, who agreed to maintain the deer at her expansive property in Livingston Parish, reviews WAFB, an area CBS affiliate.
The deer, which the household affectionately named “Little Buck,” finally regained its well being and lived with the Sibleys for seven years. Though Little Buck had a pen on the property, he was free to go away at any level however by no means did.
On December 22, 2024, officers from the Louisiana Division of Wildlife and Fisheries confirmed up on the Sibleys’ door after receiving an nameless tip that Little Buck was residing on the property. Louisiana regulation solely permits people to own in captivity “sure sick, injured, or orphaned wildlife”—which doesn’t embrace deer—for as much as 90 days.
After discovering the deer on the property, brokers “seized the animal and euthanized it,” in response to WAFB. “My son’s in tears,” Sibley instructed WAFB. “I obtained him off the sofa watching cartoons proper earlier than our household Christmas celebration to return inform his deer goodbye. They got here and darted him. He was laying in his bedding space for 20 minutes. They shot him with a dart after which needed to shoot him once more.”
The household was then fined over $1,600. Trevor, Jaci’s husband, was criminally charged with possessing the deer. Prosecutors finally declined to maneuver the case ahead and dropped the nice and felony cost.
The incident has outraged many, together with Louisiana state Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R–Greenwell Spring). Ventrella tells Motive she will listing numerous reviews of animals being confiscated within the space, together with one case final week the place a fawn was killed after being seized by Samaritan.
“I feel we are able to discover a higher use of presidency assets than kicking down somebody’s door for elevating a deer,” she says.
Final yr, Ventrella launched laws—which finally handed—that legalized wildlife rehabilitation for sure animals like rabbits and chipmunks. Ventrella plans to introduce new laws to higher defend animals like Little Buck by including deer to the listing of authorized wildlife rehabilitation animals and shrinking the scale of Louisiana’s Wildlife and Fisheries Division.
“It comes right down to a matter of widespread sense, proper? If this deer is free to return and go because it pleases, is that basically even possessing wildlife within the first place?” she instructed WAFB.
Ventrella says she believes the incident is about greater than only a deer; it represents freedom from an overreaching authorities. “You’ll be able to name myself a bit nation Braveheart,” she says.
The Sibleys’ expertise with authorities overreach is sadly not unusual. Peanut the squirrel was captured and murdered by New York wildlife officers final yr, sparking a wave of backlash on-line. (The squirrel’s house owners are suing the state of New York for $10 million due to the incident.) Earlier this summer season, New York Metropolis officers tried to separate Lucy, an ageing pygmy pig with quite a few well being points, from her Staten Island household (proudly owning a pig is unlawful inside metropolis limits). Mass public outcry brought on Democratic Mayor Eric Adams to pardon the pig, permitting Lucy to stick with her household in the event that they left city.
