Bambi vs. the Bureaucrats
Six years ago, an Oregon man rescued a fawn and raised her as a family pet. So when the state seized the deer, with a threat of euthanasia, all hell broke loose.
Had he been a hunter, and had the mottled white doe that tumbled down a hill into his rural Oregon driveway six years ago been an adult, Jim Filipetti could have ponied up $19, applied for a deer tag and gunned the animal down. He could have butchered the deer the state now knows as "Snowball," mounted her head on the wall and moved on with his life.
But Filipetti chose to raise the injured fawn as a pet, spending thousands of dollars on veterinarian bills to treat her deformed hooves, installing strips of carpet throughout his house so she wouldn't slip on the hardwood floors, and feeding her a steady diet of sweetpeas, tomatoes and green beans—"the best that Safeway had to offer," he says. After 12 months, the house painter moved her to a pen outside his home in Molalla, Ore., but she was still a member of the family. "It was like having a dog around the house," Filipetti says.
Filipetti uses the past tense because his beloved Snowball has been seized by the state, which was considering euthanizing her. The story has outraged local residents and animal-rights advocates.
What's telling is that the neighbors didn't complain. To the contrary, they took to Snowball, stopping by to feed the tame creature on a regular basis. "Everybody's got a set of animals somewhere," says Geordie Duckler, an attorney with the Animal Law Practice, a Portland specialty law firm that handles livestock disputes, biting incidents and claims against veterinarians. "It's rural Oregon."
One neighbor even brought for a visit his own rescued buck: Mr. Magoo, so named because he was blind. Filipetti agreed to let Mr. Magoo live with Snowball, until he died of what Filipetti suspects was a heart attack. Bad eyesight didn't stop a love connection between Mr. Magoo and Snowball, and little Bucky was conceived.
The family was happy enough until Filipetti had a flap with an estranged relative who called in an "anonymous" tip to state authorities that Filipetti was raising deer without any kind of permit, which is illegal under state law. In April, Oregon State Police troopers showed up, took samples of Bucky's and Snowball's blood to determine the species, retreated for a few months to figure out how to proceed and then returned last week. The deer might be permitted to stay with Filipetti if he'd unlock his gate, state officials said, so they could be free to roam. But Filipetti refused that option, worried that the tame deer would be easy bait for vicious neighborhood dogs.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next Page »
Loading Menu
Member Comments
Posted By: lzrdlvr @ 03/03/2008 6:34:43 PM
Comment: Maybe people should take their heads out of their asses and realize that WE are the cause of the majority of these animals plights. If it were not for people who take it upon themselves to preserve the wildlife that is left there may be even more species becoming extinct. A life in captivity may not be the chosen one for an animal in this situation but is euthanasia really any better? Also people who take it upon themselve to care for wildlife are (hopefully) aware of the dangers that go along with it and accept that. If you get hurt its your own damn fault. BUT THE BIGGEST POINT IS WE (people) ARE THE CAUSE OF EVERY PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH THE WILDLIFE, and WE should do everything we can to live with these animals and and protect them before they are ALL GONE.
Posted By: SStanleyVMD @ 02/25/2008 1:02:21 PM
Comment: As a veterinarian with an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources and Wildlife Science, I have to disagree with xara2's premise and conclusions. If this was a cougar in a backyard cage, I'd agree it should not have been kept, but it's a doe ---scarcely as dangerous as say an ornery horse, which nobody argues should be banned for an owners' protection. Keeping any kind of animal has attendant risks, which are generally understood and accepted by the keeper. The analogy of idiots treating actual wildlife in the wild as if it were domesticated is specious ---this is a completely different situation, involving a hand-raised orphan. And you can't legitimately apply a "let Nature be Nature" approach in an environment that has been profoundly altered by human habitation. The underlying ecological reality is that suburban populations of deer are often excessive, as many of the animals' normal predators have been eliminated, while the suburban environment offers a plethora of food in the summertime. As a result, each year sees an overabundance of young deer entering their first winter, when food supplies plummet, and as a result, many of those young deer starve (and often damage the habitat by overbrowsing it before they die). Isn't it more cruel to allow an orphaned or injured fawn starve to death, than to rehabilitate it and allow it to live a more limited life? Many wild animals take well to captive settings, and can accommodate enclosures much smaller than the ranges they inhabit in the wild ---for a deer, most of that range, after all, is the area necessary to find forage ---smaller in lusher regions, larger in sparse ones. Your argument would preclude the keeping of most zoo animals, and if you've ever worked in wildlife rehab, you know full well that many wild animals --- healthy but damaged in a way that they can not be released into the wild ---are kept as educational ambassadors. I know of many happy and healthy 'backyard' deer; neither they nor their species are adversely affected by their semi-domestic condition. Also, if the man spent thousands of dollars on vet bills, I would be astounded if he avoided a thorough education in providing proper nutrition for his deer (not rocket science, that), and indeed, the fact that the animal is capable of reproduction implies that its nutrition is, at a minimum, adequate. I think that people in this sort of situation should be given the option to be properly educated in in the husbandry requirements of the species in question, have their facilities inspected and approved, and be issued a permit. That way, everyone wins.
....Dr. S. Stanley, VMD Oakland, CA
Posted By: xara2 @ 01/15/2008 6:22:22 PM
Comment: First of all (all fuzzy feeling aside) what the man did was illegal. Second of all, wild animals are not pets. This type of situation is seen across the nation over and over again. We see it in Yellowstone; where visitors honestly believe it's a good idea to feed the bears and try to ride the elk. Attempting to humanize or domesticate wild animals only hurts the animals in question. The average home range of and adult female deer is anywhere from 39-2878 ha. Not a pen in a guy's backyard. Their typical diet consists of browse, forbs, grasses, and nuts. That does not include a salad from Safeway's produce section. Did the owner actually check to make sure that the deer's diet actually covered its nutritional needs?
I understand how people can have bleeding hearts when it comes to baby wildlife. They're cute, and we hate to see them die. But in reality, it happens. The best thing any human can do for injured wildlife is to call the professionals who have actual training and education in wildlife. Wild animals will always be wild, no matter how many times they eat from your hand. The real cruely is being selfish enough to try and confine them in a backyard pen and treat them like Fido or Fluffy. Assuming to keep them in a pen is egotistical, cruel, unfair and unrealistic for the animal.
-Wildlife Biology Student