How the NYSDEC Steals Animals from their Owners

How the NYSDEC & Their Minions Steal Animals from their Owners

In May and July of 2016, I thought the NYSDEC did the worst they could ever do to my business and I by first seizing and killing a pack of healthy adult coyotes I was rehabilitating then waiting for a couple of months to charge me for the very activities they had licensed me to do.  Boy, was I wrong, when in July/August 2017, I had found out how they colluded with another licensee who I trusted to board three of my animals while I was recovering from surgery for several months.

The other licensee, Tyler Thomas of Fragile Planet Wildlife Center, had been working with Joe Therrien and Paul Stringer, two staff members of the NYSDEC.  Additionally, James Farquhar and law enforcement officers such as William Powell of Region 8, were also in on the theft as they encouraged Thomas to take the animals with no intention of returning them misrepresenting the laws by stating that it would be illegal to return them to me as I supposedly wasn't licensed to have them.

However, I was adequately licensed and the department knew it.  I had my License to Collect & Possess which, at that time, had not been revoked.  Therrien and his pals knew better than anyone else that the license remains valid during the course during which the department is preparing for an enforcement hearing which is what was occurring at that time.  Within a week of obtaining an attorney for fighting the tickets charged to me by Powell and Kevin Thomas of the law enforcement division, the general counsel was granted right off the bat two months of adjournments to prepare for taking my license away via administrative court hearing or, as Jim McCulley, another person targetted by the Department resulting in fifteen years of litigation, calls them, "kangaroo hearings".   At every turn, the DEC was committing inappropriate acts against me such as judge shopping and making false inflammatory statements about my business, the care for my animals, and I to local authorities and colleagues, neighbors, etc. 

In late November 2017, Thomas of Fragile Planet Wildlife Center had submitted a verified answer to my summons.  The answer contained a statement explaining how he had received encouragement from the Special  Licenses Unit of the DEC to take my animals without the intent of ever returning them.  This is illegal.

Fairly recently, it also came to my attention that Thomas' attorney had been in contact with the Department of Environmental Conservation staff such as Joe Therrien and James Farquhar.  The topic was, of course, how to use any licensing information against me so I would not get my animals back.  Can a public agency do this?  Well, I didn't think so, when in August 2017 I had requested an update on the status of my licensing by the Special Licensing Unit as well as any information they have about my fisher, one of the animals Thomas stole and took out of state.  Thomas wanted me and the Court to believe the animal had perished, which was untrue. Of course, the Special Licenses Unit said they couldn't talk to me about anything to do with the fisher because they were aware of the case filed against Thomas and it's department policy not to discuss such things.  However, they were doing so with Thomas and his attorney on multiple occasions.

In September 2019, the DEC pushed through proposed rulemaking declaring every exotic animal to be "dangerous" without submitting any proof, assessments, evidence, theories, nothing.  Of course, the animal specifically mentioned was North American badgers.   Coincidentally, I was on the verge of getting one from Thomas as part of a settlement and, as he was stalling in sending the animal, the regulation would start its enforcement phase in January 2020 according to his attorney.  It was clear to me that the department was still working together with Thomas and his attorney in trying to prevent me from receiving any animals from Thomas.

Thinking back on how the DEC staff members Therrien, Farquhar, Stringer, Powell, etc. snuck around doing and saying things behind my back without the courage to take the adult manner of talking to another adult  if any of them saw a problem, I wondered how many other people fell victim to this kind of unlawful collusion and misrepresentation of the laws and didn't realize it.  Just when I think the state cannot get any worse or corrupt, it seems to dazzle its public again by showing a whole new low in its behavior and contempt of the public and those who challenge their violations of the law and ethical standards.

Commissioner Seggos stated the proposed rulemaking in September 2019 was going to be adopted because there were "some bad characters breaking the rules".  Somehow I doubt he was talking about the favorited licensees who have extensive non-compliant histories with the department but always manage to have their licensing stay intact.  It just stands to "reason" that he was talking about those who, although remaining compliant with their licensing provisions, failed to follow the Department's unspoken rules, one of them being never to challenge the actions of the department staff.   Now that's dangerous.