TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is working on new guidelines for how to handle situations where a wild animal is being kept as a pet after game wardens were criticized for shooting a family’s pet deer.
It is illegal in Kansas to keep a wild animal as a pet. Wildlife officials said they shot the Mark and Kim Mcgaughey family’s deer, named Faline, out of concern it could hurt people or spread disease. The family’s videotape of the Dec. 19 shooting in rural Ulysses drew national attention, and some state lawmakers last week asked Robin Jennison, secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, about the shooting.
The department was criticized for shooting the deer within an hour of giving Kim Mcgaughey a citation at her workplace, which she said didn’t give her time to prepare her family for losing the deer or to research her legal rights. The family had kept the deer as a pet for nearly two years.
“Clearly things could have been handled much better in the field,” Jennison said.
Wildlife experts said the wardens had few options.