Louisiana Wildlife Officials Killed a Blind Deer After a Family Nursed It Back to Health
The family also faced over $1,600 in fines, which were ultimately dropped.
When a Louisiana family agreed to nurse a blind deer back to health, they were looking to do the right thing and didn't want any trouble. But that's exactly what they got last December.
In 2018, a woman in Baton Rouge found a blind fawn that had been abandoned by its mother. The woman contacted Jen Sibley, who agreed to take care of the deer at her expansive property in Livingston Parish, reports WAFB, a local CBS affiliate.
The deer, which the family affectionately named "Little Buck," eventually regained its health and lived with the Sibleys for seven years. Although Little Buck had a pen on the property, he was free to leave at any point but never did.
On December 22, 2024, officials from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries showed up at the Sibleys' door after receiving an anonymous tip that Little Buck was living on the property. Louisiana law only allows individuals to possess in captivity "certain sick, injured, or orphaned wildlife"—which does not include deer—for up to 90 days.
After finding the deer on the property, agents "seized the animal and euthanized it," according to WAFB. "My son's in tears," Sibley told WAFB. "I got him off the couch watching cartoons right before our family Christmas party to come tell his deer goodbye. They came and darted him. He was laying in his bedding area for 20 minutes. They shot him with a dart and then had to shoot him again."
The family was then fined over $1,600. Trevor, Jaci's husband, was criminally charged with possessing the deer. Prosecutors ultimately declined to move the case forward and dropped the fine and criminal charge.
The incident has outraged many, including Louisiana state Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R–Greenwell Spring). Ventrella tells Reason she can list countless reports of animals being confiscated in the area, including one case last week where a fawn was killed after being seized by a good Samaritan.
"I think we can find a better use of government resources than kicking down someone's door for raising a deer," she says.
Last year, Ventrella introduced legislation—which ultimately passed—that legalized wildlife rehabilitation for certain animals like rabbits and chipmunks. Ventrella plans to introduce new legislation to better protect animals like Little Buck by adding deer to the list of legal wildlife rehabilitation animals and shrinking the size of Louisiana's Wildlife and Fisheries Department.
"It comes down to a matter of common sense, right? If this deer is free to come and go as it pleases, is that really even possessing wildlife in the first place?" she told WAFB.
Ventrella says she believes the incident is about more than just a deer; it represents freedom from an overreaching government. "You can call myself a little country Braveheart," she says.
The Sibleys' experience with government overreach is unfortunately not uncommon. Peanut the squirrel was captured and murdered by New York wildlife officials last year, sparking a wave of backlash online. (The squirrel's owners are suing the state of New York for $10 million because of the incident.) Earlier this summer, New York City officials tried to separate Lucy, an aging pygmy pig with numerous health issues, from her Staten Island family (owning a pig is illegal within city limits). Mass public outcry caused Democratic Mayor Eric Adams to pardon the pig, allowing Lucy to stay with her family if they left town.
