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Baby deer named Giggles |
(Scroll down for video) Many people are outraged after an innocent baby deer was killed by an armed SWAT team.
Armed with their guns and a search warrant, government agents surrounded an animal shelter and killed a baby deer named Giggles.
Wisconsin law prohibits keeping wildlife without a permit.
The military-style operation included nine officers of the Department of Natural Resources and four local police officers. They raided the shelter Society of St. Francis, which is located on the border of Illinois.
The animal was brought to the shelter by a family, who was worried that the deer had been abandoned by its mother.
Staff members at the shelter named the deer Giggles because “When it made a little noise, it sounded like it was laughing,” the shelters president, Cindy Schulze, said.
Giggles was at the shelter for two weeks when it was killed by authorities. The deer was scheduled to be transferred to a wildlife reserve facility the day after it was killed.
During the two weeks that the deer was at the shelter, the Department of Natural Resources received two anonymous phone calls indicating that a fawn was staying there against government regulations.
Authorities arrived to the shelter with detailed information about the deer including photos. Officers went around the property to look for the deer. After the deer was found, a worker at the shelter said he saw agents walking away with the deer in a body bag.
Jennifer Niemeyer, Department of Natural Resources spokesperson, said that state law requires the agency to euthanize animals "because of the potential for disease and the danger to humans."
Schulze plans to take legal action against authorities for killing the animal without a court hearing.