Ask Iowa DNR to Hear Wildlife Rehab

All animals deserve a chance to live,who are you(DNR)to play God and kill them for *just incase!!!

Please consider meeting with this group and coming to an agreement. It's the poor animals that are paying the price here. If we don't take care of animals now, our future generations may never get a chance to see or know what these animals are.

Wildlife rehabber since 2005

The public now will keep fawns or deer with probable cwd and release them. This makes it terribly worse for the deer and those of us able to differentiate if the fawns have cwd or the mother did or not. Highly unlikely with the ones we care for as they are usually trauma patients. pre release further defines if any problems and they are given the healthiest foods, workers and vaccines as necessary prior to full release on private grounds. Please rethink this, the process you propose will only make the disease more prevalent as the public will be involved. Also, can the DNR pick up the fawns immediately and euthanize them, I think not. There is an educational way to inform rehabilitates and make this a whole lot less traumatic on everyone, especially the fawns

I am permitted in the state of Indiana as a wild animal control officer as well as a wild life rehabilitator and have been permitted to such since the year 2000. Keeping the lines of communication open between wildlife rehabilitators and regulating agencies is critical. bans on certain types of wildlife do not usually have a good outcome because citizens will take matters into their own hands when they find what they consider to be orphaned or injured wildlife. They will take them home and try to raise them and states end up with improperly raised nuisance animals. States lose control and all oversight of wildlife because there is no way to track these animals through private citizens. It's much better to work with parameters of wildlife rehabilitator's and set up specific guidelines that can be tracked. Communication is key.

I love deer

I’m a permitted wildlife rehabilitator in NYS, where the state wildlife agency implemented similar regulations without the input of the public or the wildlife rehabilitation community. These actions have led to lawsuits and significant mistrust among rehabilitators toward the agency. The public does not understand the regulations when they look to rehabilitators to help with injured and orphaned deer, and we cannot help them understand when we are not included in decision making. Making changes like this behind closed doors makes one question whether sound science informed the decision or if the agency has ulterior motives being driven by a powerful lobby, such as the hunting lobby. Whatever the reason, the agency needs to respect the opinions of the public they serve and the wildlife rehabilitators who save the state significant resources providing services increasingly in demand by the public. Government transparency is a right, not a privilege.

Stopping the rehabbing of fawns is morally and ethically wrong.

A flat directive of absolutely no deer rehabilitation is kind of cause for alarm which might possibly backfire and lead the public to break the law when they rescue a supposed orphan and decide to keep it because they find no legal place to take it. The ramifications of Even more problems than the faster spread of chronic wasting disease in Iowa’s deer population Could prove to be worse than the original effort to protect our populations. Might the DNR be able to find a better solution .. testing — closer relationships with the rehabbers etc ?????I realize other alternate solutions will cost more money and more time , but just consider how important is our natural resources are for the economy of our state. This is a multi-faceted problem. I believe more than this one directive should be considered.

I have been a wildlife rehabilitator for over 25 years including rehabilitating white-tailed deer. I also reside in a state that banned it after CWD was found only to reinstate it because of the problems that occurred, including the spreading CWD. I also sit on a council for our state and would be happy to speak to someone about the problems this poses and how the wildlife rehabilitators can actually help.

I am a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in a state that doesn't allow us to work with any deer. Their reason is CWD which has been found in several counties in the state. If CWD is the reason for your decision then it should have been stated in your letter to the rehabilitators in your state.

I worked in wildlife rehabilitation for almost 3 years and now I am a zookeeper at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. I also have Bachelors degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University.

I signed

One of my concerns is the service we do for the public, education and an option when they come on an injured or orphaned wild animal. Being a mental health professional, caring and compassion are not only an important characteristic of humans, but also trip "good" endorphans etc. in our body. Concern for people is part of what we do. . . and concern for fostering a connection with the earth and those living here. We also are a support to the DNR. . . there is no one when we refer callers to the DNR who does what we do, answers the questions we can answer, and safely direct actions. As individuals we truely support the DNR, and know how pressed you are for staff. There are many ways we can work "with" and for you. CWD is one of those ways. Talking would be beneficial.

This move only encourages General Public to try it themselves. Not a good outcome for anyone.

State and federally permitted masterclass wildlife rehabilitator over years experience founder/ Director of wildthunder wildlife and animal rehabilitation and santuary

All wild life needs a chance!

Double degree in animal science and dairy science. Previous caretaker for white tailed deer for USDA. Active in both wildlife and livestock industry

I am an Iowa certified wildlife rehabilitator

I've been a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Wisconsin for 16 years and am the director of Wisconsin WildCare. I began my rehabilitation career specializing in whitetail deer. When chronic wasting disease (CWD) was discovered in our state, deer rehabilitation was banned in so-called CWD zones. My then 3 year-old facility was suddenly prohibited from taking in orphaned or injured deer, this after considerable time, energy and money was invested (at no taxpayer cost and with no financial benefit to me). Despite the fact that CWD was brought in by captive deer farmers (deer are raised on a closed in "farm" to allow canned hunting for a profit) and has continued to be spread across the state by captive deer operations, these have been allowed to continue operations. Meanwhile, there is no science behind the claim that banning rehabilitation of deer would somehow reduce the spread of CWD. The only difference here is the lack of an organized and well-funded lobby, a case of an agency attempting to look as if it is trying to do something useful.