Also..here it look to me like they are used to having animals..they have a PIG!
Posted on 09/12/2007 10:46:36 PM PDT by Inspectorette
07:18 PM PDT on Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN and kgw.com Staff
MOLALLA, Ore. -- Officials with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife on Wednesday arrived to take two pet deer from a Molalla family.
Watch the KGW report
Franchesca Mantei found the deformed, rare-colored black tail deer named 'Snowball' five years ago. Eventually, another deer mated with Snowball and the deer gave birth to Bucky.
But under Oregon law, the animals were being held illegally.
Mantei spent most of Wednesday morning bawling. Four Oregon State Police cars were parked in her driveway. Fish & Wildlife officials were staged nearby.
After receiving an anonymous tip that the family has been illegally keeping a wild animal as a pet, authorities descended on Mantei's Molalla property Wednesday morning to seize Snowball and Bucky, Snowball's son.
In a surprise compromise, ODFW officials granted Mantei permission to release the tame female deer onto the family's own land. But the compromise fell through Wednesday on what to do with the animals and state police arrived to take them in.
OSP troopers said they would take the deer in for a checkup and care to see if it would be possible to release them into the wild. If not, officers would try and find a wildlife sanctuary.
Because Snowball the deer cannot walk normally, it won't be able to fend for itself once released, even if it remains on the family's property, said Mantei, who has spent the last five years caring for the deer.
"Snowball released in my yard will not have a fighting chance... she can't run...with the wild critters in the area and the neighbors' dogs, she'll get mauled. She'll be dead by dark," Mantei said.
How It All Began
Snowball was on the side of the road by Mantei's house as she drove her children to school five years ago. The young deer's back legs were badly deformed, causing the hooves to cut into the skin every time the deer tried to take a step. Every two weeks for six months, Mantei took the deer to a veterinarian, who fitted it with special casts to correct the deformation, and Snowball learned to walk better.
Hi folks, don’t know if you’ve seen or heard about this. The ODFW is talking about euthanizing the deer. KGW-TV is being bombarded with people calling in about this.
OREGON KILLS BAMBIE AND HER MOTHER.......news a 10
Okay..I KNOW this is a stupid question..
But a private citizen has BEEN taking care of the deer FOR FREE for 5 years and it is “fine”..
But they want to put it down because it won’t survive in the wild..
Seriously??
Really???
(I know...stupid me...banging head)
That’s (just about) one of the STUPIDEST things I have EVER HEARD OF!
God bless this woman for what she did!
Is this a residential neighborhood, and what does the deer smell like?
KGW-TV is running a poll, and it’s 97% in favor of letting the family keep the deer. KGW said that they are being literally bombarded with phone calls of outrage about this, and they are urging people to call ODFW. This is a story that should go national.
We had a similar case where someone cared for an injured bird which could no longer fly.
But because it was a ‘migratory’ bird, they were not permitted to keep it and Fish and Game seized it.
Then, because it was permanently injured and could not be released back into the wild, it was killed.
I thought that sort of stupidity existed only in my state; but evidently bureaucratic nonsense has spread elsewhere, too.
So they are taking snowball (who is a uniquley pretty lil gal) to a wildlife refugee.
Can’t they consider her home now a refuge.
Come on.
Gee and I hope whoever called in and ratted out an innocent display of caring for a deformed deer feels real good about themselves.
Someone is a jerk.
I don't know what the deer smells like, but have not seen any reports of any complaints from neighbors.
Global, did you see this on KGW? KATU hasn’t shown it on their news, and I went to their website and didn’t see anything about it there, either.
This is asinine...Let the family keep their pets. Maybe they shouldn’t allow them to breed them but the 2 deer should be able to stay with the family. Whoever ratted them out should be ashamed to have done so. Before they would get my pets I would find a way to hide them. Why is it illegal to have deer as pets anyway?
Molalla is a rural community. This family probably has several acres of land.
The family has five acres of land.
From what I saw on the news tonight, they are out in the country.
Wow - M0sby! Thank you for the pix (I’m HTML-impaired.)
Is this a residential neighborhood, and what does the deer smell like?
Hey Jeff...
Not really residential...
they live on 5 acres..
Good question though...
But the story is here:
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_091207_animals_molalla_deer_pet_.c8f24021.html
I have to confess to CHEATING on the pictures..
I happen to use Outlook Express for my email.
I can open a new message.
Copy and paste ANYTHING I want into the message..
And then click on a little tab that says “source” and it turns EVERYTHING into HTML!
I can sorta muddle through some things...but this is SOOOOO MUCH EASIER and FASTER!!!
And WHAT A CUTE DEER!
I am AMAZED (well..not totally..)
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6000 or Toll Free: (800) 720-ODFW
E-mail: odfw.info@state.or.us
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