Judge sides/w DNR in dispute

[Lee Borgersen]

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Judge sides with DNR in dispute with Iron Range wildlife rehabilitator.
 
Jan 15, 2016 



 



An administrative law judge has sided with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in a yearlong dispute over renewing a Pengilly wildlife rehabilitator's permit.



 

 


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It's now up to the DNR to decide whether it will follow the judge's November recommendation that the agency had a "reasonable basis" to deny the renewal of Jody Benolken's wildlife rehabilitation permit a year ago.

"We have to make a decision to either affirm or reject the ALJ's decision. We expect to make our decision on that in February," DNR spokesman Chris Niskanen said.

The DNR, in deciding not to renew Benolken's permit last year, cited violations that included habituating the animals to humans and using the animals in educational programs — something not allowed for animals that are being rehabilitated to return to the wild.


Benolken, who operates Dark Star Wildlife Center, said she wants the DNR to work with her and noted that she could appeal the coming DNR decision. She added that she's distressed about three animals removed by the DNR last year — an otter named River, a fox named Todd and a raccoon named Rikki, who are now at home at the Minnesota Zoo — and continues to want the animals to be returned to her.

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However, the DNR told the News Tribune last year that the permit renewal is a separate issue from what happens to those three animals. The DNR took custody of the animals in March 2015 after Benolken placed them with the Minnesota Wildlife Connection while she waited for the hearing on her permit to take place.


A black bear named Skibo also was removed from Benolken's care, in 2014, and Benolken said she learned from the DNR's court documents that the bear was euthanized, with the necropsy showing it had a neurological disorder.

After going through the legal issues with the DNR in the past year, Benolken said she is hoping to have state laws changed to avoid euthanizing wildlife when an animal can't be rehabilitated.

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"We're supposed to put these animals down instead of trying to use them for education. As long as they can have a very good life, nice big enclosure, taken care of, why not, instead of killing them? Minnesota cannot outlaw compassion," Benolken said. "I'm Christian and I believe I was put on this Earth to help God's creatures and the DNR can't make me kill these animals. I felt that's what they were pushing on me."


The dispute began in the fall of 2014 when the DNR found four violations of Benolken's permit while investigating allegations that she habituated the animals to humans and was using them in programs where they interacted with the public, causing public safety concerns, according to letters sent to Benolken by the DNR.

Benolken had inquired about a wildlife educational permit to be able to use the otter, fox and raccoon in programs, but the DNR didn't grant her the permit. Wildlife rehabilitators can't simultaneously have a wildlife educational permit, nor can animals taken in for rehabilitation be used with an educational permit, according to the DNR.

Benolken appealed the non-renewal of her wildlife rehabilitation permit in January 2015, which led to Administrative Law Judge Barbara Case recommending in a November decision that the DNR had enough evidence to not renew Benolken's permit. If the DNR doesn't make a decision within 90 days of Case's order, the judge's determination becomes the final decision.

"In her treating the wild animals in her care in the same manner that she treated her domesticated pets, (Benolken) violated Minnesota law and applicable permit conditions," Case wrote in her order.

Case noted that Benolken clearly cared about wildlife and that DNR staff gave Benolken "changing messages" on whether she would receive a wildlife educational permit.

However, Case wrote in her order that Benolken's actions violated several laws and rules and that it only takes one violation for the DNR to have the authority to revoke a wildlife rehabilitation permit.

"(Benolken)'s own statements and photographs provide sufficient evidence to prove that (Benolken) habituated young wild animals to humans, treated wild animals as pets, allowed wild animals to intermingle with domestic pets and other species, failed to abide by the terms of her 2013 Rehabilitation Permit, and refused to release animals to the Department when requested to do so," she wrote.

Case stated that Benolken's argument that the animals were habituated and therefore could be used for educational purposes failed because she didn't have an educational permit. Additionally, Case wasn't persuaded by Benolken's defense that interactions with humans don't habituate those animals to humans.

"This response supports the Department's position that (Benolken) does not sufficiently understand, or respect, the guidance provided by the Minnesota Wildlife Rehabilitation Study guide or the laws governing wild animal rehabilitation," Case wrote.

Benolken said she continues to worry about the three animals and doesn't want them to be at the Minnesota Zoo, where she's gone once to see them in their new enclosures.

"That's another thing that really hurts me, just looking at how happy they were here compared to where they're at now. We're a wildlife center and yes, River did get in close contact with the kids, but a lot of the DNR officials knew what I was doing in this area, and ... I was in the process of getting the so-called educational permit that I never got. Why couldn't they have worked with us instead of going through all this? That's just the sad part and the animals are the ones that suffered," Benolken said. "I'm still praying and hoping that they do come home or back to the Minnesota Wildlife Connection. They're not meant to be in a zoo. They're meant to be teaching."

Laws should be changed so that wild animals aren't euthanized if the animal can't be released back into the wild, Benolken said.

Rehabilitators can either euthanize the animal if it's too badly injured or work with the DNR to find a zoo or center to place the animal if it can't be released, according to the DNR.

Benolken said she is working to open a new wildlife center in June. She's beginning it on 6 acres she owns in Pengilly, but is hoping to expand it to about 100 acres. She's envisioning a place where families can camp or children can stay at cabins for a summer camp. It would be set up so wildlife can freely come through, but she also wants to have pens for animals that can't be released to provide an educational component, she said.

"I think it would be really big for our community because it would attract people from all over," she said.

 

River, a river otter, is one of three animals Jody Benolken of Pengilly was caring for before the Minnesota DNR denied the renewal of her wildlife rehabilitation permit a year ago. (Photo courtesy of Jody Benolken)


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