CFM News
The Conservation Federation of Missouri is Opposed to the Transfer of Captive White-tailed Deer Management
Saturday, 05 April 2014 14:57 Last Updated on Saturday, 05 April 2014 14:58
Written by Rob Brandenburg
Legislation is currently working its way through the Missouri Senate (SB964) and House of Representatives (HB2031) to change the classification of captive cervids from "wildlife" to "livestock."
The legislation aims to transfer control of captive cervids from the Department of Conservation to the Department of Agriculture. At legislative hearings held for both bills, an official Department of Agriculture representative testified in opposition of the transfer. The Department of Agriculture believes MDC should manage whitetail deer. The Conservation Federation of Missouri agrees.
CFM has assembled a Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) committee to help provide direction on the complex issues surrounding the CWD outbreak in Missouri. The CFM is working with state agencies, legislators, CFM members and the public to educate them on CWD.
According to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance (a joint collaboration of non-profit wildlife organizations), CWD is a contagious neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose. It causes a characteristic spongy degeneration of the brains of infected animals resulting in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death.
One aspect of CWD management the CFM supports is increased regulatory oversight of the captive cervid (deer) industry. CFM believes current operation standards pose a significant risk to public wildlife resources. This calls for stricter measures.
CWD remains prevalent in the national press. Just in the last week, the Indianapolis Star released a groundbreaking report on the captive cervid industry and the Boone & Crockett Club issued their position statement.
Ryan Sablow, an investigative journalist with the Indianapolis Star, spent over a year researching captive cervid facilities. His report "Buck Fever" has been picked up by many regional and national news outlets, and was even featured by the USA Today.
Sablow wrote, "To feed the burgeoning captive-deer industry, breeders are shipping an unprecedented number of deer and elk across state lines. With them go the diseases they carry. Captive-deer facilities have spread tuberculosis to cattle and are suspected in the spread of deadly foreign deer lice in the West. More important, The Star's investigation uncovered compelling circumstantial evidence that the industry also has helped accelerate the spread of chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal deer disease similar to mad cow. CWD now has been found in 22 states."
Click on this link to read and watch the entire "Buck Fever" feature:
www.indystar.com/buckfever The Boone & Crockett Club is a national wildlife organization that exists to improve the system of conservation throughout North America. Conservation heroes, President Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell, founded it in 1887. In regards to captive deer, the Boone & Crockett Club, states:
"The Boone and Crockett Club supports state bans on importing or exporting captive deer and elk by game farming operations in order to protect the health of native populations. The Club opposes any legislation aimed at relaxing regulations governing captive cervid breeding operations or removing management authority over such operations from state wildlife agencies."
Read the Boone & Crockett Club's full position statement at
www.Boone-Crockett.org The Conservation Federation of Missouri's CWD Committee firmly believes the Missouri Department of Conservation must remain the agency responsible for the regulation of all white-tailed deer in Missouri, both wild and captive. CFM also believes MDC must strengthen regulation of the captive cervid industry.
For more information about captive cervids and CWD in Missouri, visit
www.NoMOcwd.org Let your voice be heard. Contact your local legislators and tell them how you feel about the transfer of captive cervids from the Missouri Department of Conservation to the Missouri Department of Agriculture.
To find your Senator, visit
www.senate.mo.gov To find your Representative, visit
www.house.mo.gov http://confedmo.org/cfm2/index.php/...-of-captive-white-tailed-deer-management Sunday, January 06, 2013
USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE
*** "it‘s no longer its business.” ***
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/01/usda-to-pgc-once-captives-escape-its-no.html Saturday, June 29, 2013
PENNSYLVANIA CAPTIVE CWD INDEX HERD MATE YELLOW *47 STILL RUNNING LOOSE IN INDIANA, YELLOW NUMBER 2 STILL MISSING, AND OTHERS ON THE RUN STILL IN LOUISIANA
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/06/pennsylvania-captive-cwd-index-herd.html Friday, April 04, 2014
*** Wisconsin State officials kept silent on CWD discovery at game farm ***
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/04/wisconsin-state-officials-kept-silent.html October 11, 2013
Protecting Missouri's White-Tailed Deer fill out the questionnaire ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/10/protecting-missouris-white-tailed-deer.html Friday, September 20, 2013
Missouri State records show gaps in oversight of captive deer farms, ranches
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/missouri-state-records-show-gaps-in.html Sunday, June 09, 2013
Missouri House forms 13-member Interim Committee on the Cause and Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/06/missouri-house-forms-13-member-interim.html SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
Sunday, April 06, 2014
The Conservation Federation of Missouri is Opposed to the Transfer of Captive White-tailed Deer Management
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-conservation-federation-of-missouri.html kind regards, terry
