Michigan Farmer Rescued Injured Animals Without the Proper Permits. State Officials Have Charged Her With a Misdemeanor and Euthanized the Animals – By Christian Britschgi (Reason) / Mar 2 2021
State officials euthanized six of Julie Hall’s animals, including Sassy, a blind raccoon, and Po, a one-legged crow.
For years, Julie Hall has been running a small animal rescue operation without incident on her farm in the northern Michigan town of Petoskey.
That ended in late January when state wildlife officials showed up at her door in response to a complaint that she was taking in animals without the proper permits. Hall has since been charged with a misdemeanor, and six of her animals, including a blind raccoon and a one-legged crow, were confiscated and euthanized by the state.
“I truly did not know I was breaking the law because I had done this all my life, as a farmer, I’d done this,” says Hall. “Had I known I was such a criminal, I would have never done it. I’m not built that way.”
The state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says that licensing requirements exist to prevent rescued wild animals from becoming a danger to the community and that it had no choice but to put down the animals collected from Hall’s farm.
