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Woman Charged For Keeping 2 Wild Foxes In Her Home

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Apr 1, 2009 6:45 pm US/Eastern

Woman Charged For Keeping 2 Wild Foxes In Her Home

Reporting
Suzanne Collins
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) ― A Montgomery County woman who nursed two injured foxes back to health has just been to court on nine criminal counts for housing the wild animals.

Suzanne Collins reports a judge let the woman off easy, but she still thinks Natural Resources Police went too far.

Harriett Crosby loves animals, and she used to work at an animal rehabilitation center.

She'd been caring for a fox with an injured leg at her home for more than a year, and recently someone gave her a younger one that needed nursing care.

"My plan was to release them. I was going to take them to the country, nice wooded place and set them loose," said Crosby.

But a Natural Resources officer came in December. She was given a citation and told she had 45 days to get rid of the wild animals.

Crosby and her friend say they were surprised when more officers returned just three days later to confiscate the foxes.

"I was here, and I insisted that they honor what they said three days earlier, and they said 'No, we're taking the animals, and we're going to kill them,'" said Brett Kimberlin, Crosby's friend.

"I was just shocked. I was panicked. It was like somebody saying we're going to kill your child," said Crosby.

A spokesperson for DNR says Crosby didn't have an animal rehabilitation permit, and the first officer later learned, unlike fallow deer, foxes are on a list of animals at risk for rabies and a public health danger.

"The fox, or raccoon, or skunk, or bear must be seized immediately if they're found to be in captivity," said Captain Robert Davis, DNR.

Crosby says she quickly took the foxes in their cages, put them in her Prius to try to drive them to the woods and release them. She says police blocked her car and pulled her out of the driver's seat.

"They just manhandled her, grabbed the cages, put her on the ground, basically assaulted her," said Kimberlin.

"I don't really know what happened. I wasn't there and can't really speak intelligently to that," said Davis.

But it was Crosby who was charged with assault and with all nine criminal charges related to keeping wild animals.

"Why do they criminalize taking care of animals while they allow people to get a permit or trap, hunt, shoot and kill," said Crosby.

Late last week, a judge let Crosby plead guilty to a very minor charge. All the rest were dropped. She paid a $10 fine.

The Humane Society of the United States says it tried to intercede so the foxes weren't euthanized, but it does not condone keeping wild animals in captivity without a permit.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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