NCWF TESTIMONY ON DEER FARMING
By
Dr. Robert D. Brown
Dean (Retired) College of Natural Resources
North Carolina State University
October 14, 2014
Thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Bob Brown, and I am testifying on
behalf of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. I am Vice Chair of the Board of
Directors.
Chronic Wasting Disease is the Ebola of the deer world. It is fatal, it is incurable, there is
no vaccine to prevent it, and there isn’t even a test for it in live animals to see if they
carry it. Once here, CWD cannot be eliminated – it will be in the soil. We know from
the tragic experience in Pennsylvania that the USDA standard of certifying penned deer
herds as “disease free” after 5 years is inadequate and ineffective. We know a single
facility in facility in Iowa was recently found to have 284 infected deer. If we previously
had the laws our legislature now wants, we could have imported deer from those facilities
in Pennsylvania or Iowa.
I speak with considerable experience with white-tailed deer, especially those kept in pens.
I was an undergraduate intern at Colorado State University at their deer pens in 1967-68
when CWD was first discovered – in deer housed next to sheep with scabies, a similar
disease. In graduate school at Penn State, I did my PhD working with a penned herd of
about 200 deer. For the next 12 years I conducted research on deer and other wildlife in
pens for the Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute in Kingsville, Texas. For 6 years as
Wildlife and Fisheries Department Head at Mississippi State I worked with well-known
deer biologist Dr. Harry Jacobson and his heard of about 100 deer. For another 13 years
as Department Head at Texas A&M, I no longer did active research, but my department
had deer pens at their Research Station at Uvalde. Once I was too old to wrestle deer, I
became Dean of the College of Natural Resources at NC State and retired in 2012.
Also, as part of my 41 year career in deer nutrition and physiology, I visited deer farms
and venison production facilities in New Zealand twice; I assisted a Mississippi rancher
develop a Red Deer venison farm; and I even once testified before the Oregon Game
Commission on behalf of venison deer farmers. But that was all before CWD. And in
EVERY penned deer facility I have worked with or seen, deer eventually escaped.
Sometimes workers leave gates open – even multiple gates. During the rut bucks fight
between pens and break locks. Also during the rut deer outside the pens try to get in,
deer inside try to get out, and bucks fight through the fence. Most often storms come and
trees fall across the fence. Some escaped deer will try to return, once they’ve missed a
meal, but not all. The point is – there are no “escape-proof deer pens.”
Today you will hear arguments for expanding deer farming in North Carolina. The deer
farmers will claim to have an industry supporting jobs and income. Yet of the 37 deer
farms in North Carolina, only 13 have more than 10 deer and only 2 have more than 50.
There are no processing facilities for commercial sale of venison in our state, and it is
illegal to hunt deer behind a high fence here. Yes, the industry could expand if they were
allowed to have more deer, or more permits were given out, or if deer were allowed to be
imported to enhance the genetics of existing penned herds. But this industry is miniscule
as compared to those of deer hunting and wildlife watching in this state.
In the 2011 census by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina was found to
have 284,000 big game hunters who spent $ 230 million that year on this activity (Don’t
tell their spouses!), supporting over 3,400 jobs and providing over $ 20 million in state
tax revenue. Hunting and wildlife watching together provided $ 1.5 billion in economic
activity in North Carolina that year. This year, the 11% excise tax on firearms and
ammunition provided the NC Wildlife Resources Commission with $ 19.9 million in
revenue via the Pittman-Robertson Act. All of this – plus the $ 9.2 billion domestic
animal agriculture industry in North Carolina is put at risk by allowing deer farming in
this state. And by the way – its those P-R funds that pay most of the cost of inspecting
our current deer farms and will have to pay for the clean up of deer pens once CWD is
here.
The Public Trust Doctrine of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation states
that wildlife belongs to all Americans. As a former President of the Wildlife Society and
as a professional a Member of the Boone & Crocket club, I know both well-respected
organizations – one of scientists and one of hunters – have position statements against
breeding, feeding and otherwise manipulating deer in pens. One can argue whether the
captive white-tailed deer in North Carolina are actually “owned” by the facilities owners,
but the wild and free deer in our state are a Public Resource, owned by all of us, and the
role of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is to protect that valuable
resource. Therefore regardless of whose directive it is – the Legislature or special
interest lobbys – the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, based on our conservation
mission and objectives must oppose the proposal to expand deer farms in North Carolina.