A few of the hundreds of animals seized from reptile aficionado Terry Cullen have won their freedom, but the vast majority of the snakes, lizards and crocodiles remain stuck in legal limbo and under watch of officials who don’t want them.
Authorities seized the animals from what they described as filthy, desperate conditions in May. Cullen, 60, was charged with sexual assault of an Illinois woman who says Cullen was interviewing her for an internship with his repitle conservancy, and with several counts of misdemeanor animal-related offenses.
Authorities were investigating the assault claim when they discovered the reptiles, plus some rats and mice and two dogs, two locations in Milwaukee.
Cullen has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is also trying to get the animals returned to him or to court-appointed receivers that he claims can better care for them than local animal control officials. He says their conditions have worsened and some have died since they were taken from him.
The state, likewise, has requested permission to permanently relocate the animals, something Cullen contends could kill some of them. In court papers, prosecutors said the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission, MADACC, is doing the best it can, but that caring for exotic species creates a dangerous work environment. They also agree the animals need better care than can only be provided out of state.
Prosecutors said their request is a matter of “utmost urgency” to protect the health of the reptiles and to keep the community safe.
But at a hearing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Conen said that issue really belongs in a separate proceeding in civil court. He ruled that Cullen had missed a deadline to contest the animals’ seizure under the state’s animal statute, and no longer had any property interest in the “unclaimed” creatures.
But the sides had reached agreeement on some turtles, and Conen ordered that about a dozen turtles currently in the custody of the state Department of Natural Resources, which are native to Wisconsin, can be released into the wild. But an ornate box turtle and a Blanding’s turtle must be held as evidence in the pending case against Cullen.
Cullen’s attorney, Anthony Cotton, said the few animals being kept at the Racine Zoo are doing fine, but that hundreds being kept at a MADACC storage building under circumstances no better than what Cullen provided, and without his specialized knowledge.
Cotton said Cullen had experts from around the country in court and ready to testify Tuesday about better places to care for the reptiles. He argued that the animals should be treated like any other other property seized during a search warrant in a criminal investigation, and since police have released them as evidence, they should be returned or put under a receiver.