Michigan Man Says DNR Trying to Shut Down His Duck Sanctuary Over Permitting Dispute
A Washtenaw County animal rescuer says the state is questioning his work.
I make my reporting free so everyone can stay informed — no paywalls, no corporate control. But I can’t keep doing this alone. For less than $1 a week, you can help me continue my independent journalism and keep the truth alive. This is my mission. I work for you.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, Mich. — A Washtenaw County man who has spent years rescuing and caring for abandoned ducks and geese says the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is now trying to take him to court and possibly euthanize the animals he has cared for over a permitting dispute.
“My name is Matt Lyson. My wife Teresa and I founded Michigan Duck Rescue and Sanctuary, helping domestic ducks that have been abandoned and abused,” Lyson said. “When you get involved, you go in all the way and it’s a costly venture. But we see the satisfaction and the gratification when we see an animal that was dumped in the wild, it’s dying, we get it, we bring it here, we see it with a new life. And that’s all the reward you could ask for.”
Lyson said he and his wife operate on five and a half acres in Washtenaw County, surrounded mostly by abandoned houses and supportive neighbors. “We have one across the street that really could care less and one next to us that again loves what we do,” he said.
You can help Matthew by donating to his organization by clicking here to his Venmo.
The couple formed their nonprofit in 2014 to give people “an out for the ducks that they buy at feed stores, that they really have no idea what they’re getting into.”
Lyson said the DNR began investigating him about a year and a half ago. “They paid us a visit with three trucks and three individuals that came and wanted to see what we were doing,” he said. “They got a call that we had a wild duck that we picked up when actually it was a domestic duck, which is often mistaken for a wild duck in the wild.”
He claims the department “dragged its feet” on permit applications filed in 2022 and 2023. “We just got a denial letter today from the DNR that they’re refusing to give us the permits,” Lyson said. “The conditions are some very minor issues that they won’t even allow us to correct. It was a one-time visit and no second chances.”
The denial letter, he said, came with an order that “all the animals are to be euthanized” within 30 days. “We don’t know what their plans are, if they’re going to show up tomorrow morning, tonight, whatever, with a bunch of trucks and just gather everything up and slaughter them, euthanize them in a very horrific way,” he said.
Lyson said the court case against him stems directly from the DNR’s permit denial. “The prosecutor said if we can get the permit, they would throw out the case,” he said. “Now we have to go to trial and disprove what they’ve accused us of doing. We have done nothing criminal.”
He believes the DNR “doesn’t want anybody out helping Canada geese” and that “they’re pulling out trivial things” such as the absence of ramps in small pools. “We didn’t have the ramps set up, but we had them there,” he said. “These are trivial things. They’re pulling out on us because I really believe they don’t want anybody out helping Canada geese.”
“The DNR is supposed to be an organization that is about conservation, supposed to help animals,” Lyson said. “If somebody is out there willing to spend their time and money to do something, bothering no one at all on their property that’s completely isolated, they should not be harassed by the DNR.”
Lyson said he hopes legislators or the governor will intervene. “It’d be nice if the governor could do something, put somebody in a position that’s compassionate,” he said. “I could have easily a year ago said, I’m done with this. But it comes to a point, there’s a principle.”
I reached out to the DNR for a statement and have not yet heard back from them.
My question regards the actual sanctuary.
Was it ever designated as a ‘protected wetlands’ area?
Gov.Whitmer has been ‘at will’ removing the protected status of some wetlands state-wide & has allowed them to be filled in& subsequently developed into properties for construction. Rochester Hills had such a wetlands that was targeted by Whitmer & the city re-developed the property for construction of 9 condos. Some of condos have three (3) & some have four (4) different individuals who bought a portion of the building. each with individual
mortgages.
The owners of each mortgage is a developmentally disabled person.
The developers will not affirm whether or not there is government money in the project.
The homeowners in the affluent adjacent neighborhoods, objected strenuously. All have sump pumps & a number of them have not one, but two & three sump pumps. They have concerns about where the waters will be re-directed!
Rochester Hills City Council unanimously approved the project!
Whitmer is using her powers to over-reach local decisions!
We had some land in SW MI that was forest but also in wetland and could not harvest the trees. We kept it for several years mainly for hunting. Then sold it after downsizing our blueberry operations. After a couple of buyers over the year, they torn down the forest, cleared the land, moved in dirt, used the wood chips from those trees & planted blueberries. And again up for sale because the blueberry industry has fallen away from most farmers due to increase in taxes, high cost of fertilizer and spray, government control stipulations, lack of the type of blueberries that processors will receive plus other countries imported blueberries that are NOT USDA inspected. A bug/fly from another country has infested blueberries. So blueberry farmers over the years (just like every type of farmer) has great expenses but when the berry is harvested, taken to a processing plant and the bug is found in your load - bye bye. You have to take your load home and dump the berries on the ground. At one point we dumped over 3 ton. Sad but true! But yes Whitmer did change the law on wetlands.