Action Alert: Minnesota House File 28 Cervid Provisions

Introduced on June 12 by Reps. Rick Hansen (DFL-52A), Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL-42B) and Anne Claflin (DFL-54A), Minnesota house file 28 (HF 28) modifies important statutory provisions on farmed cervids and cervid transportation. Specifically, HF 28 amends the existing statute with more strict language with respect to escaped farmed cervids procedures, farmed cervids identification requirements and cervid carcass transportation rules.

First, the bill requires that an owner of a captive cervids must immediately notify the commissioner of natural resources of the escape of a farmed cervid. The bill also gives authority to the commissioner of natural resources to destroy the escaped farmed cervid without delay and prior to any attempt of the owner to recapture the cervid. Additionally, a licensed hunter may kill and possess escaped farmed cervids in a lawful manner, and the hunter is not liable to the owner for the loss of the animal. Any escaped farmed cervid killed by a hunter or destroyed by the commissioner of natural resources must be tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD) at the owner's expense.

With respect to identification, owners must either incorporate global positioning system (GPS) technology or include a phone number, address, or other contact information that enables the reader to readily identify the owner of escaped farmed cervid. This identification must be visible to the naked eye during daylight under normal conditions at a distance of 50 yards.

The bill also amends the statute to prohibit the importation of cervid carcasses procured by any means into Minnesota, not just those that are hunter-harvested. Similar language is amended for the transport of carcasses directly through state.

The National Deer Alliance (NDA) focuses on policy that impacts deer and hunting, and one of our top priorities is deer diseases, and more specifically, CWD. The farmed cervid and carcass transport provisions in HF 28 serve as common-sense safeguards against the spread of CWD both from within and from outside Minnesota. Currently, the best way to slow the spread of CWD is to limit or prohibit the movement and transport of live cervids or potentially infected cervid parts. HF 28 does this by amending the existing statute with more strict language with respect to escaped farmed cervids procedures, farmed cervids identification requirements and cervid carcass transportation rules.

Join NDA in supporting the common-sense safeguards against the spread of CWD both from within and from outside Minnesota found in HF 28. Visit the NDA Grassroots Advocacy Center to get in touch with your Representatives – let them know you support the cervid provisions found in HF 28.