By Katie Nickas
Indiana AgriNews
INDIANAPOLIS — The story of Dani the Deer has spotlighted the Indiana Department of Natural Resource’s rules regarding possession of wildlife.
Connersville couple Jeff and Jennifer Coun-celler attracted publicity this month when state officials revealed they had kept a young whitetail deer, which they named Dani, for two years without the re-quired permit from the DNR.
According to the probable cause affidavit and charge information filed in Fayette County, In-diana conservation officer Travis Wooley was first notified that the Connersville police officer and his wife were keeping a fawn in a large enclosure on their property last June when he was picking up a voluntary statement form from a subject on another deer case.
His investigation de-tails state that when he stopped by the Coun-celler residence to take pictures and interview the couple about the sit-uation, he learned that “Jennifer is a nurse and advised the fawn had teeth puncture wounds on both hips near the tail and it couldn’t stand up or walk,” that “she advised it took at least a month for the wounds to fully heal” and that she and her husband would do anything required to acquire permits to poss-ess and raise the deer.
The record states that she never told the DNR or conservation officers about having the deer because she knew they would put it down.
Though the division arranged to have the deer euthanized through the local veterinarian, the deer was released from the pen two days later.
Shortly after the story began circulating in the media, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence requested that the DNR dismiss the charges filed last November with the deputy prosecuting attorney of Decatur County, and represent-atives from the DNR then sent a letter to the special prosecutor this month asking him to dismiss the accusations ag-ainst the defendants.
DNR director of co-mmunications Phil Bl-oom said from the ag-ency’s perspective the case was never about the Councellers rescuing an injured deer, but of ill-egally possessing one without a permit.
“This is not a case of them saving an injured deer -- we have a process for that,” he said. “State law allows someone to take in an injured or sick deer, but they must turn it over within 24 hours to an individual licensed by the DNR to be a wildlife rehabilitator.”
“They kept it and cared for it themselves without the proper licenses to do so,” he noted.
Bloom said the DNR requested a dismissal of the case because re-sponding to public feedback was consuming much staff time.
“Although our conservation officers acted app-ropriately and followed procedure, it was time for us to make a move,” he said.
If a person finds an animal that appears in-jured in Indiana, they have the option of taking it in for medical care, but they are required by law to turn it over to a licensed rehabilitator within 24 hours with the end goal of releasing it back to the wild, Bloom said.
In order to be a li-censed wildlife rehabil-itator in Indiana, one must either possess the corresponding permit or possess a game breeder’s permit, he noted.
Bloom said new reg-ulations were instated in 2011 requiring an in-dividual to have prior training and supervision to obtain a wildlife re-habilitation license.
Both a game breeder and a wildlife rehabilit-ation license require pre-inspection of facilities by Indiana conservation off-icers to make sure everything that is needed for the benefit of the animal is in place, he said.
Bloom said it was his understanding the Councellers had called and asked about a permit, but never applied for one.
The case also brought to light the DNR’s role in informing the public about wildlife management.
He said the DNR puts out a news release each spring asking people to leave fawns alone and also provides information about what to do if they find a wild animal that is sick, injured or truly abandoned.
Bloom noted the DNR would continue to send that message as a public service to educate people on the proper steps in caring for wildlife.
He added there were 258 cases of people ill-egally possessing deer, small game, frogs, turtles or other wildlife in 2012 and that state code does not allow the DNR to separate out or give special circumstances to each case.
“It’s our estimation that most of these cases involve poaching or being over bag limit in hunting,” he said. “We receive numerous calls from people who have found abandoned wild animals, and individual conservation officers typically advise them to leave them alone.”
A DNR conservation officer may revisit a person and relocate an an-imal to a safe location away from other animals or make arrangements to transport the animal to a licensed rehabilitator if it is abandoned or orph-aned, Bloom said.
The Councellers’ story began appearing in the Indianapolis media this month, after which someone launched a Facebook campaign, bringing the case closer to the governor’s attention.
It also prompted In-diana legislators to consider existing rules re-garding wildlife and hold them up to light for future review.
Evan Eikenberry, sp-okesman for the Indiana Senate who spoke as a representative for Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middle-bury, said the senator does not currently have a bill proposed following the Dani the Deer case, but that a summer study committee could possibly discuss the issue this year. He said it is poss-ible there will be a bill proposed next year.
Copyright 2013 Indiana AgriNews