Mississippi Considers Legalizing Deer Breeding Farms
OutdoorHub Reporters 02.28.12
Legislators in Mississippi have to decide whether to legalize deer breeding farms with the potential risk of simultaneously breeding chronic wasting disease (CWD).
Sen. Tommy Gollott, R-Biloxi, is the author of a second-attempt bill introduced in 2012 to allow for importation of white-tailed deer, semen, ova and embryos into Mississippi, according to a report by the Clarion-Ledger. His first bill in 2011, similar to the second, made it out of the Senate but didn’t pass the House.
In a state desperate for economic activity, the legislation would allow the entry of an industry that brings in $600 million, according to federal surveys cited in the Clarion-Ledger. Supporters of the legislation are eager to point out that legalizing the practice will not cost the state government any funds and will generate tax revenue.
Weighing on legislators’ minds is the fact that nearby Missouri was declared to be the 15th state with confirmed cases of CWD back in November. According to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, in the 15 states that have documented CWD, half of them have found CWD at legal breeding farms. In many of these cases, CWD first appeared on the farms and then later found in animals in the wild.
Supporters of the bill argue there are plenty of safeguards in place to prevent the spread of CWD in legal breeding pens in Mississippi. The law would require the herd from which the reproductive material originates to be cleared by a chronic disease wasting monitoring program for at least five years. The reproductive material must also come from a state with no history of CWD.
Those opposed to the bill include the Mississippi Wildlife Federation and the Quality Deer Management Association. Kip Adams, QDMA’s Director of Education and Outreach and a certified wildlife biologist, wrote on the QDMA’s website, “There are no benefits for deer hunters in the growth of the captive deer-breeding industry — only risks.” QDMA says that the captive facilities where deer are bred use artificial technology to produce whitetail bucks with enormous, often grotesque antlers.
This issue is developing. Keep following Outdoor Hub for more updates.
