Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Canadian Deer farmers given ultimatum

I'm glad that BC doesn't allow any wildlife to be "farmed". It seems to me that such farms eventually end up being disease generators to wild animals.

It seems that now New Brunswick deer farmers are getting a government ultimatum. Here's the article.



Illegal deer farm operators in New Brunswick have until Feb. 1 to tell the Department of Natural Resources how they plan to get rid of their herds.

Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup said his staff have hand-delivered letters to 15 operators, advising them they must kill their deer, or ship them outside the province to a jurisdiction, such as Quebec, that allows white-tailed deer farms.

Failure to comply by June 15 will result in prosecution, he said during a news conference in Fredericton on Thursday.

In addition, operators have been told not to release captive white-tailed deer into the wild due to the risk of spreading diseases to other wildlife.

Conservation officers will monitor the locations where animals are being kept captive to ensure white-tailed deer are not released, according to Northrup.

Under the Fish and Wildlife Act, white-tailed deer cannot be kept in captivity, regardless whether they were bred or raised in captivity.

But the department discovered 15 illegal operations with a total of more than 140 deer during an internal investigation launched last fall.

Biologists warn that captive white-tailed deer pose a risk to native wildlife populations, human health and public safety. (CBC)
"The tragic death in October 2011 of a Saint-L�onard man killed by a captive male white-tailed deer brought to light the illegal practice of keeping white-tailed deer in captivity," Northrup said.

Donald Dub�, 55, of Saint-L�onard, was attacked and killed by a buck in his backyard pen.

Northrup said operators can harvest their deer for personal use only. Meat and other products from white-tailed deer cannot be sold, traded, exported or transferred to another person, he said.

The other option is to transfer the animals to another jurisdiction, but that requires approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Biologists warn that captive white-tailed deer pose a risk to native wildlife populations, human health and public safety.

Permits are available to keep some non-native deer species such as elk, fallow deer and red deer in captivity for agricultural purposes, said Northrup.

Department staff will work with people keeping non-native species to ensure they have the necessary permits and abide by the terms and conditions set out to minimize concerns related to the spread of disease, he said.

What a load of malarkey.

+ 1...

Sounds like a typical socialist (Canadian) situation to me. Everyone (Big Brother) knows more about how an individual should live their life than the individual does.....and attempt to force those views on the public.

In Texas, I'd say..."It's my damn land and I'll do on it what I wish". Just what part of the land did the GOVERNMENT pay for and what part of the taxes do they pay???? Unless someone (including the GOVERNMENT) is investing in MY land......then they should have no say in how I manage it.

Disease isn't any more of a problem than with any other livestock...and farm raised deer ARE livestock. On rare occasion a deadly disease can get going, but no more so than with domestic animals.

Barry, I don't know about that. The way things are going in south Texas I can see the demise of vast areas of wild deer due to the ever expanding operations of deer farms. Already, tame deer scoring over 200 b and c don't even raise eyebrows anymore. Are we to turn deer into tame cattle for people to shoot in high fences?

You believe that people should be able to capture and keep wildlife whenever they please?

What's next - high-fenced grizzly bear hunting in Texas?

Some of you guys have weird ideas when it comes to wildlife - and hunting too.

I was thinking bears, lions, tigers, water buffalo, rhino, ect. All would be regularly poked, prodded, and generally pissed off.

Then I would advertize "hunts" where you are guaranteed to be charged and quite possibly killed or seriously injured. Charge about $50,000 per hunt. I believe I would have to turn the idiots away as there wouldn't be enough game for all those wanting to hunt "dangerous" game.

That's an idea, single shot? PM me. I've got ideas

I'd rather see native deer farmed than some wild exotic that will escape some day.

I'm not a fan of paying for hunts either, in fact, I refuse to pay for anything beyond a license. But if it is lucrative enough to save a farm from being paved over, I'm all for it. Most deer "farms" that I've seen are merely pens and the deer are used for scent collection and only once in a while for meat.

As far as the claims of disease, that is pure tripe. If disease was such a concern there'd be no keeping of domesticated animals either.

Tell that to the people that live/own/hunt land located near Mt Horeb Wisconsin, the center and ground zero starting point for CWD here. There were several trailer loads of deer that came to the area from Western state areas were CWD long existed. Personally I don't know what to believe, but those in that area have researched this extensively are are 99% certain they know what started it. Just Sayin'

Yep

Same thing happened with mad cow disease. Any time farm animals are moved around, the spread of disease can happen.

Most all deer farms are a joke when they want you to buy a hunt . You don't buy a cow hunt do you . These deer pins is what they should be called where you buy you hunt from should be better checked for TB in such

In regards to CWD, baiting, and game farms, science shows us that game farms can be nothing short of a Petri dish for prions. Science shows us also that BOTH (game farms and baiting) enhances the spreading of CWD, and with baiting, the enhancements comes from multiple routes i.e. feeding of TSE tainted feed to cervids and the horizontal transmission from humans by non-natural enhancement of congregating cervids by feeding. So, if your feeding them 50 lb. bags of potentially tainted TSE feed, and or planting a food plot, or throwing a bucket of beets out, you enhance the potential for CWD. I see no political agenda for the ban on baiting and or the ban on game farms, if that is what it takes. ...

In B.C. today, it's illegal to own wildlife, it's illegal to farm wild animals, it's illegal to bait wildlife - and it's illegal to offer canned hunts. I sincerely hope that all of these laws will continue to stay that way.

CWD continues to spread east in Nebraska even though baiting deer was outlawed here several years ago.

http://sandhillsexpress.com/BuySell...ease-Found-in-Deer-in-Custer-County.aspx

I would prefer Whitetail Deer roam free. No estrus collection, no farming for meat, no fences, period.

+ 1

I think we should start a ranch in Texas or Colorado with dangerous game hunting. Of course it would need to be a high fence operation to insure public safety. I am talking lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffaloes, rhinos, and elephants to start. If we could cone a few mammoths and a couple of other exotic animals, maybe a saber tooth. Someone already crossed a lion and a tiger to create a huge cat. I believe people would pay to hunt these dangerous animals if it was truly a dangerous hunt.

I would prefer to live in a free country and make my own choices while leaving others free to make their choices, and the Govt can bugger off.