Wisconsin government stages armed SWAT assault on shelter trying to save wild deer
J.D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Natural News has been reporting on the increased militarization of America's thin blue line - police departments all around the country - and their frequent (and often inappropriate) use of Special Weapons And Tactics teams. Unfortunately, we have another example to report - the use of a SWAT team to "rescue" a baby deer from an animal shelter trying to save it.
WISN-12 News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin reported Aug. 1 that nine heavily armed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources agents and four local sheriff's deputies raided a shelter in Kenosha in search of a fawn that had been brought there by an Illinois family concerned it had been abandoned by its mother.
"It was like a SWAT team," said shelter employee Ray Schulze, noting that all the agents and deputies were "armed to the teeth."
At the time of the raid, Schulze said he was working in the barn of the shelter, called the Society of St. Francis, which is located on the Kenosha-Illinois border. Suddenly, he said, scores of squad cars stormed the place, belching officers who were loaded with weapons and a search warrant.
The focus of the agents' search was the fawn Schulze had named Giggles. "When it made a little noise, it sounded like it was laughing," he said.
'Killing is our policy'
Per the news team:
Schulze videotaped the fawn they named Giggles during the two weeks she was there. The Department of Natural Resources began investigating after two anonymous calls reporting a baby deer at the no-kill shelter.
The warden drafted an affidavit for the search warrant, complete with aerial photos in which he described getting himself into a position where he was able to see the fawn going in and out of the barn.
Agents told staff they came to seize the deer because Wisconsin law forbids the possession of wildlife.
"I said the deer is scheduled to go to the wildlife reserve the next day," Schulze told WISN's news team.
But apparently, thanks to another insane government policy, the fawn would never make it.
The report said the fawn was scheduled to go to a wildlife reserve in Illinois that provides for rehabilitation of deer. But, Shulze said, agents rounded up all of the workers at the shelter and set out in search of Bambi.
"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," Schulze said. "I said, 'Why did you do that?' He said, 'That's our policy,' and I said, 'That's one hell of a policy.'"
Naturally, DNR defended its atrocious behavior.
Jennifer Niemeyer, a DNR supervisor, told the news team that the law requires agents to euthanize animals - even those like Giggles - because of the potential danger they may pose to humans, in terms of disease. Nothing in the law, apparently, provides flexibility for, say, testing of animals first, to see if they're carrying anything.
"These are always very difficult situations for both parties involved, and we are empathetic to the fact of what happened because we know in our heart of hearts they tried to do the right thing," Niemeyer said.
Whatever.
'They went way over the top'
Investigative reporter Colleen Henry asked Niemeyer if she could have made a phone call to the shelter first, citing the fact that a lot of resources - agents and deputies - were used to, you know, hunt down a baby deer.
Niemeyer's answer was akin to comparing apples to oranges and completely disingenuous: "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."
Of course, this wasn't about making a drug bust or arresting someone thought to be violent. It was the execution of a warrant to find a baby deer.
Niemeyer further said agents did not kill the fawn at the shelter, but merely tranquilized her and then killed her somewhere else. That excuse didn't wash well for the shelter's workers.
"I don't care where they would have killed her, it would have been wrong," shelter president Cindy Schultz said, adding she is planning to sue DNR for snatching and killing the deer without so much as a court hearing.
"They went way over the top for a little tiny baby deer," she told WISN.
That's an understatement.
Sources:
http://www.naturalnews.com/z041504_SWAT_assault_animal_shelter_baby_deer.html