http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/health-dept-homeless-cant-eat-deer-meat.htmlBy Todd Starnes
Hunters across Louisiana are outraged after state health officials ordered a rescue mission to destroy $8,000 worth of deer meat because venison is not allowed to be served in homeless shelters.
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The Dept. of Health and Hospitals ordered the staff at the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission to throw 1,600 pounds of donated venison in garbage bins � and then ordered then to douse the meat with Clorox � so other animals would not eat the meat.
�Deer meat is not permitted to be served in a shelter, restaurant or any other public eating establishment in Louisiana,� said a Health Dept. official in an email to Fox News. �While we applaud the good intentions of the hunters who donated this meat, we must protect the people who eat at the Rescue Mission, and we cannot allow a potentially serious health threat to endanger the public.�
That statement set off a firestorm among hunters and lawmakers who called it outrageous and insulting.
�That�s a mild understatement,� said Richard Campbell, one of the founders of Hunters for the Hungry, a group that has been donating wild game to shelters since 1993. �Hunters are going nuts over it. It�s created an outrage across our state and even over into Mississippi.�
The controversy started when someone being fed at the rescue mission complained about being fed deer meat.Henry Martin, executive director of the mission, told Fox News they�ve been serving deer meat for years � from deer chili to deer spaghetti.
�This was really good meat,� he said. �It�s high in protein and low in cholesterol. It�s very healthy.�
Martin said he was extremely bothered by the way state health inspectors handled the situation.
�You would think we would have due process,� he said. �But they meant to destroy the meat � that�s for sure.�
The mission�s chef asked if they could at least return the meat to the processing plant � but the state officials said no.
�They actually took it out to the dumpsters, split the packages open and poured Clorox on it,� Martin told Fox News.
He said the rescue mission serves 200,000 meals a year � without a single dime of assistance from the state or federal governments. As a result of the confiscation, he said as many as 3,200 meals were lost.
�It seems like this was a senseless act,� he said. �I don�t think hungry people who come to our mission appreciate the fact they could have been eating some really good venison and as it is now � no one can eat it.�
The Health Dept. defended their actions and said they had to pour Clorox on the meat as an �extra precaution so that animals would not eat it from the dumpster and become sick or die.�
�This is a process called �denaturing,�� they stated.
Campbell said the venison comes from deer management programs � where hunters have to kill a lot of deer.
�We ask our hunters once they fill up their own freezers to give the extra to the needy,� he said.
Once the deer is donated, a local processing plant prepares the meat for the shelters.
And hunters in the Sportsman�s Paradise have always responded to the call � including State Rep. Jeff Thompson.
�As a hunter and somebody who has personally donated deer to this program, I�m outraged and very concerned,� he told Fox News. �You hear about these stories anywhere and it�s a concern � but when it happens in your own backyard it�s insulting.�
Thompson said he is meeting with the heads of state agencies as well as state lawmakers to make sure the rules are changed.
�We take pride in helping our neighbors and to see thousands of dollars worth of meat that would help the hungry go to waste is absolutely disturbing to me,� he said.
Thompson said at the very least the meat should have been returned to those who donated it.
�We want to make sure the generosity of hunters and processors are honored and the hungry are provided with the food they are very much in need of,� the lawmaker added.
