JACKSON - Only university researchers would be allowed to bring white-tailed deer into Mississippi under legislation now on the governor's desk.
The bill, a compromise the House and Senate passed last week, would ban the importation of white-tailed deer and place a temporary moratorium on elk, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer and similar animals believed by the state veterinarian to be susceptible to chronic wasting disease.
Violators could be fined a maximum of $5,000 and jailed for five days, under the bill, which would take effect with the governor's signature.
CWD, as it is called, creates sponge-like holes in a deer's brain, causing the animal to grow thin, act abnormal and die. Scientists believe it is spread by animal to animal contact, and although there is no scientific evidence it can infect humans, people are advised not to eat an infected deer.
In 2002, Mississippi imposed a brief moratorium on the importation and intrastate movement of all deer and elk within state borders.
The disease first spread throughout the West and crossed to the east side of the Mississippi when it was found in Wisconsin. That created fear it would enter into the fertile deer hunting regions of the Southeast, said Sen. Lynn Posey, D-Union Church, chairman of the Senate Wildlife Committee.
"We're trying to protect out hunting resources with this bill and it is something our sportsmen wanted us to do," Posey said. "CWD will eventually get here. If we don't import it in here, it should be a long, long time."
Wildlife officials have said many landowners with fenced off areas stock them with deer purchased out of state. They wanted that to stop while testing for CWD goes on.
"There have been over the years past, people who have imported deer to these enclosures and that's one of the things we had to get addressed," Posey said. "That's really where the problem lies because nobody is going to import anything in here and actually turn it out into the wild. They are going to put it in a high-fenced area."
The bill would give the state Board of Animal Health broad authority to inspect deer or elk in such enclosures either by permission of the landowner or by a judge's order. The owner of the enclosure must notify the board if any animal breaks out.
University researchers could bring white-tailed deer into the state with approval of the Mississippi Commission of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Posey said.
If wildlife officers find CWD in white-tailed deer within an enclosure, they would kill the herd in the enclosure under the bill. If CWD was found within five miles of an enclosure, the bill would allow wildlife officers to kill animals within the pen to test for the disease.
The bill also gives the state authority for two years to regulate hunting of imported deer in public and private wildlife enclosures.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
