# Deer breeders sue state



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

*Deer breeders sue state*

Statute says deer released by breeders belong to state.
By Mike Leggett

A group of deer breeders has sued the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, asking a Travis County district judge to determine who owns the white-tailed deer and mule deer held in breeding pens in Texas. 
The current state statute under which breeders operate allows them to buy, sell, breed, medicate and even shoot released deer for sport but retains ownership of the deer for the State of Texas. Licensed breeders, though, claim ownership of the deer they breed and want the courts to decide whether the state could be taking away their property rights. 
"I just firmly believe they ought to be our deer," said Quinlan rancher James Anderton, one of the eight plaintiffs listed in the suit filed Friday in Austin. "I want to know if they're my deer or if the state can shut me down and say they own the deer." 
Texas has about 800 breeding facilities, comprising more than 40,000 animals with an estimated worth of more than $100 million. Individual *breeding bucks have sold for as much as $450,000 in Texas. *
Texas Parks and Wildlife currently is rewriting the rules by which breeders operate, but the fight over ownership dates to the 2005 legislative session. Breeders had persuaded Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, and Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria, to sponsor legislation to give ownership rights to the breeders, but it never received a hearing on the House floor. 
The state, by law, owns wild deer and any breeder deer released to the wild, but breeders argue that not having clear ownership of their penned deer leaves them vulnerable to complaints from prospective buyers and sellers, as well as to complete shutdown if TPWD declares them in violation of their permit. In that case, breeders would be given 30 days to dispose of the deer in their pens. 
"I haven't even received my permit from last year (2005)," Anderton said. "They've told us we're legal to operate, but we still don't have the permit." 
Anderton said that places him and his 400-plus deer, worth an estimated $1 million, in jeopardy should the state decide to exercise ownership rights to those animals. 
The Parks and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote April 6 on a revised set of rules for breeders that includes provisions by which individuals could be denied permits to operate or could lose the permits they already hold. 
Parks and wildlife executive director Bob Cook declined Wednesday to comment on the suit, which will be defended by the attorney general's office. 
However, Cook told the Austin American-Statesman last year that he agreed with breeders, not with the legal interpretation of his department's chief legal counsel, Ann Bright. 
"What I have said and thought all along is that those deer belong to the breeders, to the people who buy and sell those deer," Cook said then. "They are not deer that belong to the people of the state of Texas unless they are (turned out of breeder pens for any reason). People need to look at the law. I think the law is clear."


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## Lvn2Hnt (Feb 22, 2005)

Oy, that's some muddy water there. Is there anything similar on, or not on -whichever the case may be - the books in North Dakota. I'm completely uneducated when it comes to raising animals like elk, deer, etc in ND.

It does, though -from the point of view of the article - sound like the breeders have a decent case here. Why, if they have rights to do many other things with these deer, can they not claim ownership. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

My gut reaction opinion would be that if the deer are pen raised and bred, then they are no longer the property of the state. But, I can see why the state wouldn't want just anyone staking claim to "wild" deer, that opens up a whole other pandora's box.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Farmed Cervids and Bison are considered livestock in ND. Not wildlife.

No ownership issues in ND.

Bob


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

They should never release a deer from a farm into the wild, to big of risk of disease especially if the farm deer have been vaccinated for diseases.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Another reason I dislike canned hunts and their operators. They are a joke.


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## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

-not to hijack but-Did Cwd originate in pen raised deer or wild deer?


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Here is the main CWD site
http://www.cwd-info.org/

Here is the timeline

Late 1960s First recognition of a clinical syndrome termed "chronic wasting disease" in captive mule deer in Colorado 
1977/1978a Diagnosis of CWD in mule deer as a spongiform encephalopathy 
1978/1979a Diagnosis of CWD in captive mule deer and black-tailed deer in Wyoming 
1979 Diagnosis of CWD in captive Rocky Mountain elk 
late 1970s Diagnosis of spongiform encephalopathy in captive mule deer in a zoo in Ontario (CWD did not persist in this location) 
1980 First published report of CWD in captive mule deer 
1981 Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging Rocky Mountain elk in Colorado 
1982 First published report of CWD in Rocky Mountain elk 
1983 Start of hunter-harvest surveillance for CWD 
1985 Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging mule deer 
1990 Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging white-tailed deer 
1992 First published report of CWD in free-ranging cervids 
1996 Diagnosis of CWD in game farm elk in Saskatchewan 
1997 Diagnosis of CWD in game farm elk in South Dakota 
2000/2001a Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging mule deer in Saskatchewan, possibly associated with CWD affected elk farm 
2000/2001a Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging mule deer in Nebraska contiguous with the CWD endemic area of Colorado and Wyoming 
2001 Extensive depopulation of game farm elk in Saskatchewan due to CWD 
2001 Diagnosis of CWD in an elk imported from Canada to Korea in 1997 
2001 Declaration of a USDA animal emergency because of CWD in game farm elk 
2002 Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging deer associated with an affected game farm in Nebraska 
2002 Diagnosis of CWD in free-ranging white-tailed deer in Wisconsin 
2002 Diagnosis of CWD in a free-ranging mule deer in New Mexico

Bob


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Lvn2Hnt said:


> Oy, that's some muddy water there.
> 
> It does, though -from the point of view of the article - sound like the breeders have a decent case here. Why, if they have rights to do many other things with these deer, can they not claim ownership. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.


Talk about muddy... I'm certain they'll win their case in courts....especially when other states are giving them precedent (like ND) to treat those animals as property of the owner just like cattle.

Let us know what happens with this one Bob...I'm dying of curiousity... This is just a slippery slope to giving real hunting a bad name.


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