Kentucky bans Hoosier captive-deer imports

Kentucky's state veterinarian this week temporarily closed the state's borders to captive-deer shipments from Indiana, citing concerns about disease-contaminated animals.

Kentucky state veterinarian Robert Stout said Thursday that Kentucky had already banned captive deer imports from Pennsylvania and Ohio due to outbreaks of chronic wasting disease, which led to dozens of quarantined farms in those two states.

He suspended shipments from Indiana after learning the state had received deer linked to outbreaks in those states.

The move comes as Indiana lawmakers debate a bill that would legalize the hunting of captive, farm-raised deer.

It also comes just a few days after officials in Ohio announced they filed two felony criminal charges against Holmes County hunting-preserve owner, Daniel Yoder.

He is accused of violating his state-issued quarantine, falsifying records and tampering with evidence during an investigation into Ohio's first case of chronic wasting disease. Officials say a farm-raised buck shot in October on Yoder's preserve tested positive for CWD. Yoder couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.

Stout said Thursday that the Yoder criminal case didn't factor into his decision to shut his state's borders.

But the fact that deer linked to the outbreaks were shipped to Indiana did.

"Indiana has received (deer) over the years from both Pennsylvania and Ohio herds," Stout wrote in a memo describing the import ban. "Therefore, until such time that a comprehensive epidemiologic investigation is completed by both (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and impacted states, importation into Kentucky from Indiana herds is temporarily suspended."

Shawn Schafer, executive director of the North American Deer Farmers Association, said it's common for state veterinarians to close borders for short periods out of concerns about livestock diseases.

"It shows the system works and the program is working," Schafer said.

Still, agricultural officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania have said it's proven nearly impossible to track sources of the CWD infection in those states due to a tangled web of deer shipments from hundreds farms and hunting preserves.

The ban impacts around 80 farms and a half-dozen or so hunting preserves in Kentucky. There are nearly 400 deer farms and four hunting preserves in Indiana.

Denise Derrer, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Board of Animal Health, said she couldn't comment on Stout's order until the two states' veterinarians met to discuss the matter.

Derrer said Indiana's commercial deer operators received three deer linked to Yoder's herds in Ohio. None of them tested positive for CWD.

"I think we're good on Ohio," she said.

Of the 23 states where CWD has been found, Ohio was the 12th in which CWD was detected first in a commercial deer operation. Deer in such operations are bred for enormous antlers, and shipped to fenced hunting preserves to be shot by hunters willing to pay thousands of dollars.

CWD has never been detected in wild or farmed deer in Indiana. The state isn't among the 22 states that have banned captive deer imports, though like Kentucky, the state doesn't accept shipments from CWD-positive states.

Opponents of the practice say the interstate shipment of trophy bucks drastically increases the risk of infection entering a state. There is no approved live test for CWD in captive animals.

Meanwhile, Indiana's House could vote as early as next week on House Bill 1453, which would legalize high-fence hunting at any preserve that had been in operation before 2015. In 2005, state wildlife officers attempted to ban the practice due to concerns about unethical hunting and disease.

The preserves sued and recently had the ban overturned.

Call Star reporter Ryan Sabalow at (317) 444-6179. Follow him on Twitter:@ryansabalow.