After eight precarious months under the heavy thumb and critical eye of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, eight deer formerly in the care of For Heaven’s Sake Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation in Rochester are now bounding freely across their new home on the range.
On Friday afternoon the operators of For Heaven’s Sake, Claudia and David Supensky, were able to corall eight of the 11 deer remaining at their care center into a travel trailer with the help of Brian Calkins, regional wildlife manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Once those deer were secured in the trailer they were driven to a remote location in South Thurston County and released on private property that is adjacent to hundreds of secluded acres of undeveloped timberlands.
The pardoned deer were initially cautious when the trailer door swung open to reveal their new stomping ground amidst a verdant pasture and expansive timberlands. Gradually though, the deer began making their way out of the trailer, and one by one they began to stretch leisurely their legs and nibble green grass while they worked up a group consensus about which way to roam.
“Free at last,” whispered Claudia Supensky as the herd began to assemble on their own terms for the first time.
“Bittersweet here. This is my last release you know, but I’m happy for them,” she added. “I’m so happy for them. I love seeing them free and I think they’ve got their survival skills that they needed for this. I just can’t continue to do this if the powers that be don’t think I know what I’m doing.”
Indeed, the Supenskys have previously announced that they have given up their long standing large animal wildlife operations due to their recent experience with the WDFW. Going forward, For Heaven’s Sake will only take in injured or orphaned owls in order to continue their educational work with schools and other organizations.
The fiasco at For Heaven’s Sake began last August when a pair of former volunteers submitted an anonymous report to WDFW that alleged improper practices at the rescue facility. Rather than neglect, the allegations stated that the Supenskys and their volunteers were actually spending too much time with the 15 young deer and one elk calf that they were caring for at that time. After a cursory inspection by the WDFW and at least one follow up visit, the Supenskys were notified that the young ungulates had been deemed “too friendly” for wild release and that the only suitable resolution would be to kill all of the rescued animals.
The Supenskys have maintained all along that the young orphaned deer and elk had to be bottle fed in order to survive and that those necessary interactions led the ruminants to associate humans with food. The Supenskys also argued that they had never had a problem with “wilding up” rescued deer or elk over the winter in preparation of wild release, and stated that they had successfully done so approximately 200 times during their years working in wild animal rescue.
Those pleas went unheeded by WDFW officials, however, and in mid-November WDFW staff arrived at the rescue facility ready to capture and euthanize all 15 fawns and the elk calf in question. The WDFW maintained that the animals had become habituated to humans and would be easy prey in the wild, or worse, could wind up causing injury to unsuspecting humans due to their inquisitive nature. When WDFW staff showed up at For Heaven's Sake to round up the animals for euthanization they were able to coax four of the youngest deer and the elk calf into an enclosed space where they were sedated. Those animals were then loaded into a trailer and later euthanized.
After witnessing that fatal action the 11 remaining deer became understandably skittish and fled to secluded area of the For Heaven’s Sake compound where they were able to avoid capture by the WDFW.
When news of the action against the animals at For Heaven’s Sake reached the public the WDFW was inundated with messages of disapproval that reached a boiling point during a packed house Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting at the capitol campus in Olympia.
One week after that emotional meeting in Olympia the WDFW came to a tentative agreement with For Heaven's Sake that allowed the deer to remain under the care of the rescue center until March 16. The arrangement allowed for three inspections of the deer by WDFW between mid-December and the middle of March in order to determine their suitability for wild release. During the final release, Calkins was actually able to touch two of the deer on the head repeatedly but the WDFW decided to allow all 11 deer to be released into the wild anyhow.
“It’s clear that at this point in time, based on two of our evaluation visits, that most of the deer, nine, seem to be acting pretty wild,” Calkins told The Chronicle in late March. “There are two that humans could physically touch during two of our evaluations. That said, there is also a herd mentality amongst this group of animals. They tend to follow each other when they take off and we are hopeful those two animals will continue to run with the others.”
On Friday Calkins said that he was nearly certain that the three deer remaining at For Heaven’s Sake do not include the two deer that he was able to touch during the final inspection on March 16.
“I can say that the three who stayed at For Heaven’s Sake stayed in the far corner,” said Calkins, who noted that the final release plans for those deer will be left up to the Supenskys. The options on the table include rounding up the three remaining deer and trucking them to the same remote release site so that they might rejoin the rest of the rescue herd, or a “soft release” that would simply require the Supenskys to open a gate on their property so that the deer can wander away at their leisure.
Calkins said that the release spot utilized on Friday was chosen for its proximity to For Heaven's Sake, along with the seclusion of the area.
“It’s close and it’s less stress on the animals. Less time in the a cage or a trailer,” said Calkins. “This is all about the safety of the deer.”
As the eight deer slowly wandered away from the trailer on Friday evening, Claudia Supensky said she still wasn’t sure what option she would choose for the release of the final three deer. Instead, she simply found herself overcome with joy as she watched what had seemed to be a never-ending nightmare evolve into a true happy ending.
“It’s really exciting to me to see them out here,” said Supensky. “So long as they can avoid predators they should have a good long life.”
Calkins was more reserved in his assessment of the situation.
“I think you can say that this is a big relief to everyone to finally reach this point. It sure has been a long road,” he said.
Despite the WDFW’s decision to allow For Heaven’s Sake to release all 11 remaining deer, Calkins was adamant that his department was justified when they chose to euthanize the first four deer and one elk calf.
“I would say that it was, given that basically we had some animals on that occasion that were trying to get into people's pockets to see if there was food,” said Calkins.
Calkins also dismissed the notion that keeping deer and elk over winter is an effective way to recalibrate their wild intuition in cases of suspected habituation.
“The science in general and national guidelines in general do not support that and I don’t think this changes that,” said Calkins. “It’s quite possible that there was a difference in behavior that occurred with these animals back in November and nobody noticed.”
Dave Supensky noted that he and Claudia typically try to release their rescued deer and elk in late January or early February, after hunting season and just before the foliage begins to green up in the spring.
“We don’t usually keep them this long. The problem came when Fish and Wildlife came in,” said David Supenksy. “We’re trying to stay friendly but trust is another thing entirely. I have just lost all my trust and faith.”
