August 5, 2013

"Wisconsin DNR removes Facebook page amid national outcry over SWAT-style takedown of fawn."

Isthmus article, updated to say that the page is back up. Check it out here. I don't think there is one word of empathy for the poor baby DNR.

24 comments:

traditionalguy said...

A new form of suicide by police has been invented in Wisconsin.

Just do an act of mercy and common sense and await the hit team from the local useless bureaucracy fiefdom out to enforce a regulation with extreme prejudice.

khesanh0802 said...

The law is the law. I am sure that the DNR officers did not enjoy this job one bit, but CWD is a real problem in the deer herd and it is taking strong measures to keep it under control. Several commercial elk herds in MN have had to be destroyed because of CWD.
I am always entertained when the Bambi crowd has to face the reality of scientific game management. Look at the suburbanites in NY and NJ who are now crying for hunts to control their out of contol,rhododendron-eating deer herds.

David A. Carlson said...

the key issue to me is DNR staff confiscated a shelter members phone and deleted photo's she had taken.

Smilin' Jack said...

I don't think there is one word of empathy for the poor baby DNR.

Here's one: At least they didn't delete their comments.

Anonymous said...

This was way beyond an inappropriate use of police power and force. Each of the officers present had a duty to know this and register their objections. That they didn't is an indictment of them, their superiors, and anyone involved in this operation.

They all deserve to be dismissed for cause with loss of benefits. The military-style armaments of their departments need to be confiscated.

Oso Negro said...

It is pleasant to see the criticism and derision in the comments. Seriously Wisconsin, you send a 13 person team to take down a fawn in an animal shelter and you deserve all the mockery you get.

Darrell said...

How about the Wisc. DNR NOT having a SWAT team. The American Library Assoc. doesn't need one either.

Jason said...

Khesanh,

The law could have been upheld with a few less manhours and without the agency looking like jack booted thugs. I'm sorry if that sort of thing gives you a hard-on.

Michael K said...

"CWD is a real problem in the deer herd and it is taking strong measures to keep it under control."

So the fawn had CJD, which is what I assume you mean by "CWD?"

And you know this how ?

effinayright said...

khesanh0802 said...

The law is the law. I am sure that the DNR officers did not enjoy this job one bit, but CWD is a real problem in the deer herd and it is taking strong measures to keep it under control. Several commercial elk herds in MN have had to be destroyed because of CWD.

***

Aw crikey. It's how "the law" was enforced. With thirteen armed officials, with no prior notice, with no attempt to find out of the poor fawn was actually infected with anything.

Jeez, save us from your procrustean prescriptions for following "the law". This isn't VietNam, and fawns aren't gooks.

Darrell said...

By the end of the year, they might be able to call in a drone strike in a similar situation. Get your fishing licenses in order, folks. And God help the Society of St. Francis no kill animal shelter if they try this with a protected baby bunny at Easter!

Paco Wové said...

So the fawn had CJD, which is what I assume you mean by "CWD?"

No, I think he meant CWD, Chronic Wasting Disease.

Paco Wové said...

The DNR should have realized that, as they were going up against Bambi, strong public relations measures would need to be taken.

Cedarford said...

I believe a fair amount of mockery and derision is appropriate for a growingly self-righteous pack of "Heroes of Law Enforcement" - not just showing up at an animal shelter as a pack of 13 "heroes" dressed in full combat gear with military weapons...but their armed personell carriers and the cop-run news conferences that approach auto-fellation and circle fellation as the cops praise themselves as great, demand more pay, and lobby on political issues like disarming the general public.

Maryland Geezer said...

When left to the bureaucrats, common sense and good judgement go out the window.

Big Mike said...

If there's a test for CWD, why wasn't it applied to the fawn?

Who thinks it's appropriate for DNR to have a SWAT team, much less a 13 member SWAT team?

So many questions, so few answers. So there's one last question - is Wisconsin the state where logic goes to die?

CWJ said...

In the words of john cougar -

"Say in' its your job old hoss, doesn't make it right."

Look, people are too scared to make a stand for fear of losing their job. To the commenter who defended this because of desease control, tell us why they needed the dozen paramilitary types to carry this out.

Everyone is frightened today, and that is a heck of a way for free Americans to live. Think about it.

Freeman Hunt said...

I don't like the idea of raids by agencies that shouldn't be police forces, but I don't understand the out of proportion upset over killing a deer. People kill deer all the time. I see pictures regularly on Facebook in the fall of people next to dead deer they killed.

Smilin' Jack said...

Sometimes it is necessary for the government to destroy a fawn in order to save it. Didn't you people learn anything from the Vietnam war?

Richard Dolan said...

This episode is just one example among many of the bureaucratic state doing its thing, according to the basic principles that characterize all bureaucracies. The first law is to expand one's turf; the second is always to protect the home team. The absurd over-reaction by the DNR agents here is similar to the crazed raid in Virginia a month or so ago by a SWAT team of 'alcohol control' agents who drew their guns on a young woman whom they thought (erroneously as it turned out) was buying booze illegally. But those are just two examples from an almost limitless number.

There is no reason (except for the first law of bureaucracy, that is) for these agencies to have SWAT teams; and the existence of such teams guarantees the kind of abusive conduct on display. It goes without saying that none of the agents or supervisors will face discipline (the second law in action). Note also one agent's (illegal) seizure of a cellphone in order to delete the video recording the raid.

It would take a strong leader to rein in these bureaucracies. Anyone in Wisconsin fit that bill?

David said...

Bambi meets Godzilla.

cubanbob said...

A SWAT team for fawn now. At this rate in twenty years time this will be SOP for an overdue library book ( books being rare and expensive in the future).

FleetUSA said...

This is similar to the Charlottesville ABC case in which 6 armed Alcohol agents arrested a college student for buy a 12 pack of LaCroix seltzer water. They thought she was buying beer.

It seems that local government agencies are overmanned, overpaid, and insensitive to their real job.

Firehand said...

Freeman, except for the animal-rights people, what's really got everyone ticked is the way this was done:
1. A SWAT-team raid instead of a couple of guys showing up, explaining the situation, and doing the job.

2. Saying it was 'just like a drug raid'. See above, plus waste of money and time, plus the added danger when such is done.

3. Acting like the proverbial jackbooted thugs as opposed to the way it should have been handled(see 1). This includes grabbing that phone and deleting the pictures, which is flatly illegal; think DNR will charge the officer?

4. And the famous attitude you see displayed after wrong-address and wrong-person SWAT raids when they've terrified a family and shot the pets: "The officers were following Holy Procedure, so piss off and stop bothering us."

Ignore anything else; those four points are why most people are so damn mad, and are also why so much of American law enforcement is losing/has lost the respect of the public.