💔This heartbreaking situation began with a single online troll. After disagreeing with a social media post from  Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary, this individual launched a campaign to discredit the rescue and its dedicated volunteers. Sadly, this person has done the same to other animal rescuers — including a licensed rehabber with DAWG, who was forced into court after this same troll contacted the DNR to “report” her for helping orphaned fawns.

👀 Instead of investigating this pattern of harassment,  Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has turned its attention on the very people trying to help injured and orphaned wildlife.

Michigan Duck Rescue has been saving helpless and abandoned waterfowl for over 20 years. They receive no state funding, relying entirely on donations and personal sacrifice to care for the birds that others ignore. For more than a year and a half, they have been working in good faith with the DNR to obtain the proper permits and licenses to continue their rescue work. They believed approval was near — until October 7, when they suddenly received a denial letter and notice that DNR officials would be coming to kill any wild birds that cannot fly.

🦢That means beloved geese and swans — injured by cars, boats, or gunfire — will be killed simply because they can no longer fly. These are the very birds the rescue has lovingly given safe sanctuary to.

*A broken wing or injured foot should not be a death sentence.*

💔If  Michigan Duck Rescue is forced to stop providing refuge at its peaceful open-air sanctuary, countless ducks, geese, and swans across the state will be left with nowhere to go. For many of these birds, this sanctuary is the only place where they are safe, cared for, and loved.

Very few wildlife rehabbers have the time, training, or resources to go out and rescue waterfowl in distress — most require the public to capture and transport animals themselves. The DNR certainly isn’t stepping in to help.

Michigan Duck Rescue does the work no one else will: responding to calls, going out into the field, and giving these birds a second chance at life — one filled with peace, safety, and compassion instead of fear, cruelty,  and abandonment.

Yet despite their decades of service, the rescue has been unable to accept swans, Canada geese, or mallards for the past couple of years, after the DNR told them they could not have wildlife on the property without a permit or license. Unless this changes, countless birds who rely on their sanctuary for a safe haven will continue to be left to suffer and die alone. Who knows how many in the past year or two have already suffered and died because no one helped them.

The DNR should be supporting, not punishing, the people doing this lifesaving work. The state could even partner with the rescue — providing a small piece of land with a pond and outbuildings, funded through the DNR’s own budget — to continue these vital efforts for Michigan’s waterfowl.

We call on the Michigan DNR to do the right thing:
➡️ Grant  Michigan Duck Rescue the permits and licensing they need
➡️ Call off the order to kill non-flying birds under their care
➡️ Investigate the online harassment campaign that sparked this crisis

Please sign and share this petition to protect  Michigan Duck Rescue & Sanctuary — and the innocent birds whose lives depend on them.

PLEASE NOTE : DONATION SITE BELOW DOES NOT GO TO MICHIGAN DUCK RESCUE AND SANCTUARY. YOU CAN DONATE DIRECTLY TO THEM THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE : michiganduckrescue.com