REGIONAL— An Iron Range wildlife rehabilitator is challenging an order from the Department of Natural Resources that she turn over her three remaining animals or face possible criminal charges.

Jody Benolken, who operates the Dark Star Wildlife Center near Pengilly, has hired a Minneapolis attorney and is asking for a contested case hearing on the DNR’s refusal to renew her rehabilitator’s license. Her license expired on Jan. 31, but Benolken has, so far, refused to turn over three young animals still in her care, an otter, a red fox, and a raccoon.

“They could be busting the door down at any time,” said Benolken. “It’s really frustrating and I can hardly sleep.”

Benolken’s attorney, Erick Kaardal, requested a contested case hearing in a Jan. 27 letter to the DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr. But in a Jan. 30 response, DNR general counsel Sherry Enzler requested that Benolken turn over the three animals to an Itasca County veterinarian by the next day for a determination if the animals could be released into the wild. If not, Enzler said, the DNR has arranged to have the raccoon housed at a “game farm”, while the otter and fox will be shipped to zoos.

Enzler’s statement directly conflicts with a previous statement from Ann Pierce, section manager for the Division of Ecological and Wildife Resources. Pierce told the Timberjay in late January that Benolken’s animals could not be transferred to the North American Bear Center, in Ely, as Benolken had requested, because the center operates under a game farm permit, which doesn’t allow for the transfer of animals from the wild in most cases.

DNR officials maintain that Benolken has violated her rehabber’s permit by allowing wild animals to become habituated, and by using the animals for educational purposes at schools and other places, which requires an educational permit.

Benolken applied for such a permit from the DNR in 2013, but the DNR never completed the process. In 2014, while inquiring about the status of her permit, Benolken told the DNR’s Lori Naumann, a permit specialist, that she had already used the animals for educational purposes on several occasions and sought advice on whether that was allowed given the pending status of her educational permit. The DNR, according to Benolken, never replied to her request for guidance.

“The DNR is not acting responsibly,” said attorney Kaardal.  “Benolken requested the education permit in January of 2013 to show the non-releasable otter, raccoon and fox for education purposes, but the DNR never issued the required permit.  Instead, the DNR took Benolken’s words from her application for the education permit and found that she had purposefully habituated non-releasable wildlife animals.” Kaardal said that had the DNR issued the permit in a timely manner, Benolken wouldn’t be facing the loss of her animals and possible criminal charges. “The DNR is misusing its authority,” concluded Kaardal.

“The DNR would prefer not to pursue prosecution,” said Enzler in her Jan. 30 letter to Kaardal. Enzler notes that the agency believes Benolken is acting from “what she believes to be in the best interest of the animals,” but said the DNR Commissioner has determined that the welfare of the animals and the public requires that she turn over the animals.

But Benolken said she no longer trusts the DNR to keep her animals safe. “I’m not handing them over,” she said. “I don’t trust what they’ll do with them.”