To: Governor Andrew Cuomo
Rehabilitator's blind deer will be euthanized because they will not let her keep it.
Please save blind deer from being killed
Why is this important?
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Since 2008 Cindy McGinley has been nursing sick or injured deer back to health before returning them to the wild. As a state licensed wildlife rehabilitator, she’s allowed to provide care and emergency treatment to wild animals in order to release them back into nature. In her eight years of aiding animals though, McGinley has encountered two special cases that have stayed with her long-term.
Deirdre and Lily are a pair of white-tailed deer that live on McGinley’s horse farm in Chittenango. Each were brought to McGinley as malnourished and orphaned fawns. Deirdre, now five years old, was just the size of a Chihuahua when she arrived on the farm.
"Her mother was hit by a car and she was found beside the body," said McGinley.
Lily was so underfed and dehydrated that she lost her ability to see. McGinley believes that neither would be a good candidate for release into the wild and has since raised the does on her farm in their own turnout and stable.
But now the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says the deer must go. While attempting to apply for a license that would allow her to care for the deer long term, McGinley was not only met with a rejection letter, she was also told that her deer must either be released or turned over to the DEC for release or euthanization. In the case of Lily, the blind doe, the DEC gave McGinley a grim choice.
"There are only two options available for the one year old: 1) euthanize the animal as non-releasable; 2) surrender the deer to DEC," Joseph Therrien, a DEC Special Licenses Unit member wrote in his denial letter.
McGinley believes her application was not given fair consideration. According to her, no one from the DEC came to see her farm or asked any questions to consider the circumstances for these deer.
Cindy filed a temporary restraining order to try to buy time for her application to be reconsidered. For now at least, Deirdre and Lily’s future remains uncertain, but Cindy will continue to try to protect them just as she has since they first arrived on her farm.
Since 2008 Cindy McGinley has been nursing sick or injured deer back to health before returning them to the wild. As a state licensed wildlife rehabilitator, she’s allowed to provide care and emergency treatment to wild animals in order to release them back into nature. In her eight years of aiding animals though, McGinley has encountered two special cases that have stayed with her long-term.
Deirdre and Lily are a pair of white-tailed deer that live on McGinley’s horse farm in Chittenango. Each were brought to McGinley as malnourished and orphaned fawns. Deirdre, now five years old, was just the size of a Chihuahua when she arrived on the farm.
"Her mother was hit by a car and she was found beside the body," said McGinley.
Lily was so underfed and dehydrated that she lost her ability to see. McGinley believes that neither would be a good candidate for release into the wild and has since raised the does on her farm in their own turnout and stable.
But now the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says the deer must go. While attempting to apply for a license that would allow her to care for the deer long term, McGinley was not only met with a rejection letter, she was also told that her deer must either be released or turned over to the DEC for release or euthanization. In the case of Lily, the blind doe, the DEC gave McGinley a grim choice.
"There are only two options available for the one year old: 1) euthanize the animal as non-releasable; 2) surrender the deer to DEC," Joseph Therrien, a DEC Special Licenses Unit member wrote in his denial letter.
McGinley believes her application was not given fair consideration. According to her, no one from the DEC came to see her farm or asked any questions to consider the circumstances for these deer.
Cindy filed a temporary restraining order to try to buy time for her application to be reconsidered. For now at least, Deirdre and Lily’s future remains uncertain, but Cindy will continue to try to protect them just as she has since they first arrived on her farm.