Wildlife Professor writes about politics of canned hunts ...

Charleston Gazette, Charleston http://sundaygazettemail.com/webtools/print/Editorials/Viewpoint/2006020913

February 10, 2006 Dave Samuel · State’s deer farms pose a threat to wild herds TWO bills in the Legislature could cause tremendous damage to one of the biggest industries in West Virginia — deer hunting. House Bill 4258 and Senate Bill 506 would take deer farm control from the Division of Natural Resources and give it to the Department of Agriculture. Deer hunting brings in $230 million a year to West Virginia. A 2002 survey showed that deer farming generated $308,000 in the state. On Feb. 6, Lindsey Griffith, attorney for the West Virginia Deer Farmers Association, cited in a commentary in this paper that “the market value of deer sold last year in Pennsylvania was $10.6 million,” and then went on to state that the cervid industry in Oklahoma brings in $17.5 million a year. I find it most interesting that some of our legislators look at those numbers, while ignoring the value of our wild deer herd to the state. Between now and 2016, our deer herd will create $2.3 billion in the state’s economy. One might ask why we can’t have both deer farms and continue our deer hunting? We could if there were no problems with diseases on deer farms that threaten wild deer and elk. Deer farming is not a healthy industry. Diseases are spread from farm to farm. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the major culprit. Wisconsin spends $20 million a year just testing their wild deer for this disease. Chronic wasting disease has been found on game farms in Colorado, Wyoming, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Wisconsin, New York, and Nebraska. The more CWD is found on deer farms, the more the public turns against them. Thus, many deer farms are for sale, many do not make money and many are hobby farms. And in no state does the economic benefit from deer farming come close to the economic value of the wild deer herd to citizens. Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and 14 other states have banned deer farms. Indiana and Montana have banned hunting big game in deer pens. The ban in Montana was passed by a public referendum. Most hunters are not interested in hunting deer in pens. Why do the deer farmers want the Agriculture Department to control them? The DNR places tighter restrictions on deer farms, and this impacts them from an economic perspective. We know that CWD spreads from game farm to game farm. That has been documented. I’m not sure why that doesn’t concern some of our legislators. It sure concerns hunters and many private citizens. Consider this recent event. A deer farm in Wisconsin had a quarantined herd with at least 21 CWD-positive deer. Someone cut a hole in the fence and deer escaped. It wasn’t the deer farmer, but the results are very negative. The state is now spending more than $500,000 to kill deer around that game farm. Deer farmers want to move deer, sell deer instate and out of state. They can’t do that now, but I’m sure they believe that Agriculture would allow that. Some legislators support such sale of deer. Most states do not allow the importing or exporting of deer. What do they know that we don’t know? Why are we taking a step backward? Every state hunting organization supports the adoption of the DNR’s proposed legislative rules to control deer farming. Many citizens do as well. I’m puzzled why more aren’t taking action by going to the www.wvstatechapternwtf.com, that lists every state legislator by county, and also lists their e-mail address. Everyone interested in this issue should e-mail their legislators about these bills that threaten our wild deer herd. I’m even more puzzled why legislators ignore the science, ignore the history from other states and provinces, and push for more deer farming. Mining experts advise the Legislature on new legislation. Forestry experts advise the Legislature on new forestry legislation. We’ve got wildlife experts doing the same on this wildlife legislation, yet they are being ignored. Many folks oppose deer farms totally. The DNR has compromised here, but to turn control of deer farms over to Agriculture is a step backward. We cannot afford to risk the loss of our wild deer. The economic loss could be huge. Samuel is a retired wildlife professor from West Virginia University who has done extensive studies on white-tailed deer. He is presently conservation editor for “Bowhunter” magazine.