PORTLAND (AP) — A Molalla couple who rescued a deer named Snowball say their pet should be returned but state officials have gone to the Oregon Court of Appeals to keep the animal with rare white fur.

The lawyer for James Filipetti and Francesca Mantei said that Oregon law requires the authorities to give back property it has seized if it isn’t needed for evidence.

The couple never has been charged with a crime in Snowball’s case, said lawyer Geordie Duckler, so the state should return the deer to them.

The couple rescued Snowball in 2001, paying for surgeries to repair her deformed hind legs.

But state wildlife agents said the couple broke the law by taking the deer from the wild and keeping her without a permit. They seized Snowball, now at Wildlife Safari in Winston.

A judge ordered the state to return Snowball, but the state appealed.

Last week, the couple settled a defamation suit against the state.

No damages were paid but state officials did sign an agreement that praised the couple for their compassion and offered regrets for suggesting they broke the law.

A spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, Jake Weigler, says the couple’s argument during a hearing in Hillsboro on Tuesday could set a difficult precedent.

If the state seized a mountain lion or a cougar that a family rescued and was keeping at their home, for example, “the state would have to give that cougar back to the family, and that would probably not be a very good thing,” Weigler said.

The three-judge panel met at the Century High School auditorium to allow students and the public to see the court in action. The judges are not expected to issue a ruling for several months.