DNR Guilty of Killing Rehab Red Foxes in Maryland
31 March 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- An animal welfare advocate from Maryland had charges against her dropped for rehabilitating red foxes. According to Maryland law, rehabilitating rabies vector species is not allowed without a special permit.
Harriet Crosby was handed a written warning on December 12th 2008 for not supplying a permit which would allow her to care for several injured foxes on her Maryland estate. She was given 45 days to remove the animals from her land by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). If the time lapsed, Crosby was told officers would enter the property to retrieve the foxes.
However, just three days after the written warning, three DNR officers returned to her home and demanded possession of the animals. DNR subsequently killed all the foxes, which blatantly disregarded Crosby's due process rights provided under Maryland statutes. This included an order by a Circuit Court judge which explicitly requested that DNR cause no harm the animals.
As a rehabilitator, Crosby had the opportunity to observe the complex interactions of the wild foxes as they recovered from their injuries before being released back into the wild. The foxes were brought to her for care and she is clear that none of the animals were seen as pets nor did they live in her home.
One red fox in particular was called Munchkins. He served as a surrogate father to a younger fox, which was also put down.
"He was a very special fox - intelligent, sensitive, engaging and playful," recalled Crosby. "At first, the young one, not knowing how to behave, would attack Munchkins. When I brought food in, Munch would take the tastiest morsel in his mouth, make a guttural whining sound and get the young one to follow him until he dropped it at his feet. He would do this several times until the young one would come right after him when he made that whining sound. Even if he was hungry, Munch wouldn't eat himself until the exercise was over. He was clearly training the young one."
Crosby believes that wildlife rehabilitators should be allowed to keep adult surrogate foxes and raccoons, in order to train the younger animals before they are released back into the wild.
In Maryland, wildlife is treated as game to be hunted and trapped, oftentimes viewed as a "nuisance" to be eliminated, or as a resource to be managed.
"The people of Maryland are very interested in wildlife, so we need laws that promote the coexistence of people and animals," said Crosby. "Archaic laws that consider animals merely as a resource for consumptive industries or a nuisance or danger to people need to be changed."
Thousands of muskrat, beaver, raccoon, red and gray fox, opossum, mink, skunk, river otter, fisher, long-tailed weasel, and coyote are trapped and die horrible deaths every year in the state of Maryland.
"It takes a long time for a mammal to die in a foot-hold trap or a snare. Sometimes he will chew his leg off and bleed to death. The sanctioned methods of killing mammals include: blunt force trauma, gunshot, cervical dislocation, and carbon dioxide. These are horrible ways to die. The body-crushing trap is even worse. It slowly squeezes the life out of an animal and can take 45 minutes to die," Crosby stated.
Those who care for wild animals have a difficult time accessing permits, meanwhile hunters and trappers have less trouble obtaining a license or permit to kill these animals.
"This is cruel and constitutes torture. If our pets were treated this way, we would be outraged. Animal cruelty laws should be extended to wildlife. After all, wildlife, as part of our natural heritage needs protection. This slaughter of innocent animals is a great injustice that needs to be addressed," added Crosby.
Groups, like the Maryland Fur Trappers Inc., encourage children 16 years-old and younger to learn how to trap these animals. Although parents of these children are encouraged to attend these classes, it is not mandatory. Children learn furbearer biology, trapping methods and fur handling techniques.
"It is time for us to enlarge our circles of caring from our pets to wild animals. They deserve respect. But they are not treated respectfully by the state government officials who have authority over them. They are not seen as individual animals but as populations that need to managed, by trapping, hunting, culling whole herds and flocks when necessary. The means of killing are brutal, cruel and barbaric. The unjustified killing of God's creatures is morally wrong. I am standing up and speaking out on behalf of these animals because I believe the wildlife laws and regulations in Maryland are antiquated and need to be revised to reflect public concern for wildlife," Crosby added.
On March 26, eight criminal charges were dropped against Crosby. She pleaded guilty to one count, where she refused to obey the officer when asked to turn her car off during the confrontation. In turn, she agreed not to sue the officers who seized the animals. The District Court judge fined her $10.00 and stated the criminal charges were unwarranted.
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