I then gave the conservation officers my business card from the SPCA, and then they left.  This happened on a Friday.  On Monday I phoned the F&G office I spoke to a Larry Herrighty.  I asked if there was a problem, and Larry said yes there was.  He said that I did not return the questionnaire.  The questionnaire was in the packet I received and it was only given to rehabilitators.  The purpose was to gather information from wildlife rehabilitators so that the state could put together a standardized manual of care, this was asking for input for all of the rehabilitators.  I had sent back that information.  NJ F&G claimed that they did not get it.  Then Herrighty said I was in trouble because I did not have my permit.  I told them that I knew they only processed them in March or May, but so long as a rehabilitator having the physical paperwork in hand you were covered, so physically having the permit in your possession was not necessary.  Then he said, “Well, there is a conflict of interest.”  He said,” you’re with the SPCA.”  I asked what was the conflict of interest?  Herrighty said,  “your statutes and ours.” So I said you mean that you kill them and I save them. Herrighty then said,” Had we known that you were with the SPCA we would have never accepted you in the program and given you a permit.” This clarified to me that I was accepted and issued a permit. There was no question or grey area about it. I assumed that the way they found out I was with the SPCA is because I handed my card to the conservation officers a couple of days before that. I did not realize at the time that they had remembered I was the officer who prosecuted the two police officers who beat the deer to death two years earlier.

To be continued

Bookmark This!

Hide Sites

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Comments are closed.