Detroit Animal Welfare Group director faces criminal charges over "friendly" fawns

Kelley Labonty, the director of Detroit Animal Welfare Group, is facing criminal charges over "friendly" fawns.

The allegations are being made by conservation officers with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and it's caused a lot of controversy on social media.

Labonty will face off against Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido in court on Tuesday. 

Labony says the Detroit Animal Welfare Group is a dream that became a reality for her several years ago. She says now it's being threatened.

"We are putting hundreds of animals' lives at risk for a very frivolous case," Labonty said.

Conservation officers with the DNR allege that the Detroit Animal Welfare Group had four habituated fawns in a field across from its farm in Romeo, Michigan. 

Labonty says that's not true.

"They're normal, healthy fawns that were released from rehabilitation, and I haven't seen them. They're not on the property. They weren't even on our property. They were on a 500-acre open field across from us," Labonty said.

Celeste Dunn, Labonty's attorney, says her client has spent tens of thousands of dollars on state-of-the-art facilities to prevent habituation, like bottle feeders, to avoid human interaction.

"Every taxpayer should be outraged that this has continued to go on because of a personal vendetta against my client," Dunn said. "Looking at a video for a few minutes is not sufficient to determine if an animal is habituated."

She says this all stems from a long history of animosity between the government agency and Labonty. 

"We obtained internal emails that then say, 'Let's go after her,'" Dunn said.

Lucido has spoken out about the case.

In a post on Facebook, he says, "It is important for the public to understand that the DNR brought this case to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office (MCPO), and recommended prosecution for alleged violations of State law. This action was not initiated by my office."

He claims the nonprofit is misleading the public with false information.

"The MCPO is in the process of prosecuting the charges brought by the DNR as we are required to do by State law when dictated by evidence," the statement continues. "The MCPO is seeking to resolve this case and has given the individual charged with options that protect wildlife in an appropriate way. DAWG is completely wrong to claim that the MCPO is seeking to penalize anyone who is helping wildlife in a manner consistent with state law."

A plea deal was offered, but Labonty says it could still lead to her wildlife permit being taken away.

"He (Lucido) had the opportunity not to charge and chose not to," Labonty said. "Why would we take a plea deal when we did absolutely nothing wrong? These are criminal charges. We are not criminals."

Labonty says if her permit is revoked, the animals in her care could be euthanized.

"People are at my door, 24/7, in the middle of the night. I'm up feeding babies. People are dropping animals off. It's a huge service that we provide," Labonty said. "If, in fact, we were found guilty in a jury trial, that would give the DNR permission to come in and take all the animals in our care, all the wildlife in our care, and euthanize them."

A preliminary hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Romeo.