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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Ind. Law - House rejects effort to strip DNR of authority over deer farms

A report today in the Louisville Courier Journal:

The Indiana House defeated a bill yesterday that would have stripped the Department of Natural Resources of its authority to regulate deer farms and breeding so the agency would be unable to follow through on a plan to end fenced deer hunting.

Senate Bill 314, defeated on a vote of 53-41, also would have eliminated the department's ability to regulate the breeding and keeping of wild animals, such as lions and tigers. * * *

Earlier in the session, the House passed a bill that prohibited any new preserves but allowed existing operations to continue for seven years. That bill, however, was killed in the Senate.

Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports, under the headline "House shoots down bid to pull DNR authority on privately owned deer":
House members Monday rejected an attempt to strip the Department of Natural Resources of authority to regulate privately owned deer and other wild animals on private property.

The language was inserted into Senate Bill 314 – legislation governing soil and water conservation districts – and was defeated 53-41. * * *

A last attempt to deal with the canned deer hunts is still alive in Senate Bill 87, which is awaiting a vote by the full House. The legislation has a provision requiring the DNR to compensate the hunting preserves for lost income if they are closed – an unknown cost that could hamper the agency’s ability to do other functions.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 28, 2006 07:31 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana Law