a review of sorts ;
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News Release Media Contact: Steve Lightfoot, 512-389-4701, steve.lightfoot@tpwd.texas.gov
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News Release Media Contact: Steve Lightfoot, 512-389-4701, steve.lightfoot@tpwd.texas.gov
Oct. 21, 2014
Pair Convicted in Illegal Deer Breeding Operation
AUSTIN – The latest chapter in a decade long series of criminal and
wildlife disease investigations involving a former South Texas deer breeder
ended recently when a Corpus Christi area couple pleaded guilty to 50 charges of
Unlawful Possession and/or Sale of Live Game Animals.
Frank Thomas Shumate Jr., 51, and Kalub Rogers Shumate, 31, were each
assessed $14,127.50 in fines and agreed to surrender the ability to apply for a
deer breeder permit or a hunting lease license for all time. Mr. Shumate also
agreed to surrender his hunting license through the end of the 2015 license year
and Ms. Shumate through the end of the 2017 license year.
The criminal cases were adjudicated in the office of Hon. Caroline
Korzekwa, Karnes County Justice Court Precinct. 2.
Retired San Antonio attorney Rene Barrientos served as special prosecutor
in the case with approval and support from the Karnes County Attorney. He also
coordinated a global agreement in Travis County District Court to resolve a
pending civil case against Ms. Rogers and recover $34,080 in restitution related
to expenses incurred by TPWD staff while conducting a deer herd inventory
inspection and disease sampling at a deer breeding facility permitted to Ms.
Rogers.
Investigation into Mr. Shumate’s deer breeding activities began in March
2004 and led to multiple charges in three counties. Two years later, his deer
breeder violations resulted in 10 convictions on criminal charges in Jim Wells
County, 5 convictions in Nueces County and 5 convictions in Webb County. As a
result of these findings, Mr. Shumate agreed to relinquish his Scientific
Breeder’s Permit and liquidate all deer held in captivity in his deer breeding
facility in Nueces County.
In advance of losing his deer breeding privileges, Mr. Shumate allegedly
initiated a plan to have a new deer breeding facility permitted in the name of
Kalub Rogers on his property in Karnes County, where he then transferred more
than 100 deer from his Nueces County facility.
Over time the TPWD Special Operations Unit received numerous reports that
Mr. Shumate was reportedly still in the deer business and was buying and selling
deer for which he was not legally authorized by TPWD. An investigation revealed
that Mr. Shumate conducted sales of at least 78 white-tailed deer from Ms.
Rogers’ deer breeding facility to ranches for release into the wild for stocking
purposes since September 2010. Mr. Shumate received a minimum of $171,466 in
payments for white-tailed deer he unlawfully sold, which according to records
submitted to TPWD, were transported from Ms. Rogers’ deer breeding facility. The
investigation further indicated that Kalub Rogers was holding a deer breeder
permit in her name on behalf of her husband Frank Thomas Shumate Jr.
Ms. Rogers’ facility came under additional scrutiny in 2012, initially as a
result of a delinquent annual report required of all permitted deer breeding
facilities. Criminal charges were filed when a subsequent herd inspection and
inventory revealed significant irregularities and discrepancies, including 162
inventoried deer that were missing from the facility. During the herd
inspection, TPWD wildlife biologists noted the remaining deer in the facility to
be in poor condition and numerous decayed deer carcasses were observed
throughout the pens.
The observation of 142 deer of unknown origin was cause for additional
concern and tissue samples from several deer were tested for both Chronic
Wasting Disease and Bovine Tuberculosis. Neither disease was detected.
“Unscrupulous actions by these two individuals are not only a threat to all
the law-abiding deer breeders who are carefully monitoring and managing their
facilities, but also to the state’s free-ranging deer, which can be exposed to
unnecessary disease risk from these illegitimate activities,” said Mitch
Lockwood, TPWD Big Game Program Director. “Captive and free-ranging deer are too
important to our state to have them compromised by the actions of a few.”
===========================
TEXAS Deer Breeding: Big Business Invites Crooks
By: Jacob Edson, D&DH managing editor | February 9, 2012
Texas Deer Breeding - whitetail hunting - white-tailed deerIt’s no secret
that white-tailed deer breeding is big business, especially in the Lone Star
state. And wherever big money is involved, greed and illegal activity seem to
follow. See for example, this story by Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles
Times about a Texas deer breeder who chose to ignore importation laws to smuggle
his six-figure deer herd into the state.
Even more alarming is the suggestion in the third to last paragraph that
many more breeders might be putting profits above the regulations that protect
the safety of Texas’ wild whitetails.
NEW SUMMERFIELD, Texas — Texas’ hunting season for white-tailed deer has
now ended. Normally, Billy Powell would be counting his profit from catering to
“hornographers,” hunters who will pay as much as $100,000 to bag a monster buck
with impressive headgear.
Instead, the 78-year-old deer breeder is under house arrest and wearing an
ankle monitor.
Meanwhile, hundreds of his deer, part of a herd that had included two big
bucks named Hit Man and Barry, have been put down in a scandal that has rocked
Texas’ $2.8 billion deer-hunting and -breeding industry, the largest in the
nation.
Powell is one of 1,236 registered Texas breeders. Some have paid up to $1
million for first-rate bucks they mate with captive does. Their progeny, 103,155
registered this year, are raised in pens and released on high-fenced ranches for
hunting.
But Hit Man and Barry were smuggled into Texas from Northern states where
two deer diseases are found.
After a four-year federal investigation, Powell paid $1.5 million in fines
and restitution and pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling more than three dozen
white-tailed deer worth more than $800,000 from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
Mitch Lockwood, big-game director for the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department, said Powell put the state’s 4 million wild deer “and the entire
Texas deer-breeding industry at risk.”
Powell and other breeders say regulators have become overzealous, out for
hefty fines that become their agency’s cut of the burgeoning deer-farming
business.
“Parks and Wildlife don’t like deer breeders, and they’ll do anything to
get you,” Powell said. “ I did wrong, but they did more wrong.”
Hunters rate trophy bucks according to a scoring system developed by
Theodore Roosevelt’s Boone and Crockett Club in 1887. The score includes antler
length and circumference, with the best Texas white-tails traditionally scoring
150 to 160.
Today, thanks to breeding, mammoth deerzillas are scoring 200 or more.
Texas outlawed importing out-of-state deer to prevent the introduction of
bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease, a neurological disorder similar
to mad cow disease.
Still, some breeders have ignored the ban.
Barry was among the bucks Powell had smuggled from Pennsylvania, where he
was known as Fat Boy. Hit Man was actually Silver Storm, from Indiana.
Barry and Hit Man died of natural causes before authorities brought charges
against Powell last year, but they helped establish the government’s case.
Powell pleaded guilty in June to smuggling 37 deer. -
Man admits to snatching “Diablo” the Texas buck’s semen. (updated)
Posted on July 12, 2012 | By Dane Schiller
A breeding deer not related to the investigation. James Nielson/ Houston
Chronicle)
Court papers made public Friday offer more details in the case of an an
Illinois man pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining deer semen from a Texas buck
named “Diablo.”
Raymond Favero, 55, specifically pleaded guilty to the charge of
acquisition of wild life in interstate commerce in violation of state law before
U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith K. Guthrie.
Court papers state that in February 2007, Favero acquired 184 straws of
whitetail deer semen valued at about $92,000 from a buck named “Diablo'” that he
knew had been illegally taken out of Texas, and again in January 2008 took
another 110 straws of semen from a buck named “Thunderstruck.” (Read more in the
court paper posted at the bottom of this entry.)
He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, according to a the U.S.
Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
If an agreement with prosecutors is accepted by a judge, he will serve 5
years of probation and pay a fine of $150,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Lacey Act Reward Account, and another $50,000 in community restitution to the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
The case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas Parks
and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and prosecuted by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.
UPDATE: This case looks like it is related to the one involving Billy
Powell, a Cherokee County deer breeder who agreed in 2011 to pay a $1.5 million
fine as part of pleading guilty to illegally transporting wildlife. See the
charges against Powell in the document posted below. His plea agreement,
however, remains sealed.
(This does not have any apparent ties to the world of narcotics
trafficking, but was too unusual to pass up posting in this blog.)
Shannon Tompkins, our resident deer expert, shared some wisdom with me on
this matter. Here is what he had to say:
The reason the feds and the state take this so seriously is that
unregulated movement of deer and other cervids (elk, sika deer, etc.) can and
has spread incredibly destructive, virulent, communicable diseases such as
Chronic Wasting Disease – the deer version of Mad Cow.
The prions that cause CWD are found in deer body fluids. The disease can
take as much as five years to manifest, during which time the infected deer can
infect others or “shed” prions that remain viable for, some research indicates,
15 years or more. There is no live test for the disease. You have to kill a deer
and test its brain stem.
This is serious stuff. Not only is an incredible natural resource at risk –
CWD rather easily spreads from penned deer into the wild population – but it
also threatens recreational deer hunting which is hugely important economically
($2.5 billion or so a year in direct economic impact to Texas from recreational
hunting) and socially. Plus, deer are the reason many landowners manage,
maintain and improve the environmental quality of their land. Lose the deer,
lose incentive to maintain wild places.
Texas has prohibited importing live deer into the state for a decade or so.
State and federal officers are constantly working cases of illegal import of
deer or other criminal violations of deer-related laws. Many of them are
felonies – especially the ones involving violations of the federal Lacey Act.
June 15, 2011
Cherokee County Deer Breeder Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Deer
Prominent breeder Agreed to Pay $1.5 million for Smuggling Deer into East
Texas
TYLER – After a lengthy four year investigation a 77-year-old Cherokee
County, Texas licensed deer breeder has pleaded guilty to illegally transporting
wildlife in the Eastern District of Texas and then lying about it to a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife agent, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.
Billy Powell pleaded guilty on June 14, 2011, to the felony offense of
smuggling at least 37 whitetail deer, over a 3 year time span, from Indiana,
Illinois, and Ohio into Texas in violation of state and federal laws. Powell
also admitted that he made a false statement and submitted a false document to a
U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent who was looking into the matter. Powell has
agreed to pay a $1 million fine, to be deposited into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Lacy Act Reward Fund, as well as $500,000.00 in restitution to Texas Parks and
Wildlife, on his sentencing date. Powell’s agreement with the government calls
for Powell to serve 3 years probation with six months of home confinement which
will be monitored with an electric anklet. During the term of probation, Powell
will be prohibited from participating in any manner in commercial deer breeding.
Additionally, Powell must forfeit any illegally imported deer, any progeny of
those deer, and any biological material derived from said deer, which would
include any semen, antlers, mounts, and cloned deer. Powell has already
forfeited over 1,300 straws of frozen semen valued at approximately $961,500.00
to U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
According to information presented in court, on at least four separate
occasions, spanning from October 2006 through June 2008, Powell knowingly
imported at least 37 live whitetail deer, many of whom came from captive deer
farms in Ligonier, Indiana, into the state of Texas and to his “5-P Farms”, high
fenced deer breeding facility in Cherokee County Texas. These deer included
bucks known as “Fat Boy” aka “Barry”, “Silver Storm” aka “Hit Man”, “Y 009",
“Eagle Storm” aka “BJ”, “Thunderstruck”, “High Five”, and “Primer” aka “Spikes”.
At all times Powell knew that Texas law prohibited any person from possessing a
deer acquired from an out-of-state source. In spite of this, Powell agreed to
participate in the above-described transactions in which whitetail deer would be
secretly transported from Illinois, Indiana, and/or Pennsylvania, to Texas in
order to evade Texas laws and regulations.
Powell acknowledged that the fair market value of all of the illegally
imported, whitetail deer exceeded approximately $800,000.00, that the value of
the illegally accumulated white-tailed deer semen exceeded approximately
$961,000.00, and that the value of the progeny exceeded approximately
$290,000.00.
Powell further admitted that he lied to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Special
Agent during a voluntary statement at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tyler,
Texas. Powell told the agent that he had illegally imported approximately 35
white-tailed deer into the state of Texas when in fact he knew that he had
illegally imported no less than 41 white-tailed deer, including 6 white-tail
deer fawns. During the same statement, Powell also submitted lists identifying
35 white-tailed deer as the total number of white-tailed deer that he had
illegally imported into the state of Texas when he knew that he had actually
illegally imported no less than 41 white-tailed, including 6 white-tail deer
fawns.
Findings of the investigation also prompted the Wildlife Division of Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department to conduct an epidemiological investigation in
consultation with veterinarians and wildlife disease experts from Texas Animal
Health Commission, Texas Department of State Health Services, and Texas
A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and accredited veterinarians
actively involved in the deer breeding industry. This process was carried out in
three separate phases. Ultimately all 334 deer contained in Powell’s deer
breeding facility were euthanized to facilitate testing for chronic wasting
disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis (TB). This process was necessary in order
to provide an acceptable level of assurance that neither disease was prevalent
in Powell’s deer breeding facility nor in any deer breeding facility that had
received deer from Powell’s facility since October 2004.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has had an intensive CWD surveillance
program since 2002, and this disease has yet to be detected in Texas. Likewise,
bovine tuberculosis has not been detected in any Texas deer population. However,
illegal entry of white-tailed deer from other states poses a serious risk of
introducing these diseases and others into Texas. Introduction of these diseases
into Texas could have a detrimental impact on the longtime cultural tradition of
deer hunting, which generates an estimated $1.2 billion in retail sales and has
a total economic output of more than $2 billion in Texas each year. Disease
monitoring is also necessary to protect legal deer breeding activity from risk
of disease exposure. Furthermore, bovine tuberculosis could have a significant
impact on the Texas livestock industry. Prevention is the most effective tool to
combat diseases because once established in wild populations, these diseases are
extremely difficult, if not impossible to eradicate.
Since no live-animal test for CWD exists, TPWD consulted with trained
experts to ensure the most humane euthanasia method and treatment of the animals
was used. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials are presently awaiting the test
results for the tissue samples submitted to the Texas Veterinarian Medical
Diagnostic Laboratory located in College Station, TX
This case was investigated by the Special Operations Unit of the Texas
Parks and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecuted by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble.
Texas deer breeder sentenced for smuggling
Aug. 18, 2010 at 3:18 a.m.
TYLER, Texas (AP) - A licensed deer breeder from Austin must serve three
years of probation for illegally transporting wildlife in east Texas.
U.S. Attorney John Bales says 41-year-old Lance Clawson was sentenced
Wednesday in Tyler.
Clawson on April 14 pleaded guilty to smuggling whitetail deer from
Oklahoma into Texas. He also was fined $15,000 and must pay $7,250 in
restitution to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Investigators say Clawson, who operates a ranch and deer breeding facility
near Goldthwaite, traveled to Muskogee, Okla., on Oct. 15, 2008, to buy fawns
from a breeder.
Clawson's vehicle was stopped the following day by Texas game wardens as he
returned with eight fawns.
Texas law bans importing live whitetail or mule deer due to the threat of
transmittable diseases.
News Release Media Contact: Mike Cox, 512-389-8046, mike.cox@tpwd.texas.gov
Feb. 5, 2010
Texas Men Sentenced to Federal Prison for Deer Trafficking, Stolen Property
AUSTIN — A four-year, multi-agency investigation that began when two Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department Game Wardens received information about possible
stolen property on two Northeast Texas ranches has ended with federal prison
sentences for a father and son who pled guilty to transporting stolen property
and wildlife trafficking.
Forty-nine-year-old James Dwayne Anderton and his 26-year-old son Jimmie
Wallace Anderton, both of Quinlan in Hunt County, Texas were sentenced Tuesday
in U.S. District Court in Sherman by Judge Marcia Crone.
"This case is an excellent example of a joint effort on the part of local,
state and federal law enforcement," said Col. Pete Flores, TPWD’s law
enforcement director. "We’re proud of the work our Game Wardens put in on this
case, but everyone involved did a great job in pursuing a complicated
investigation that not only resulted in the recovery of thousands of dollars
worth of stolen property, it will help keep our Texas deer herd safe from
disease by ending an illegal importation operation."
The elder Anderton drew 30 months in federal prison for interstate
transportation of stolen property and was ordered to pay $180,952 restitution.
His son will serve 27 months in federal prison for interstate transportation and
will be jointly responsible for making restitution. In addition, both men got 12
months federal confinement for violations of the Federal Lacey Act involving the
illegal transportation of deer across state lines. These sentences will be
served concurrently with their other sentence, but they also face 36 months of
supervised release following their discharge from prison.
Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
agrees with Col. Flores, adding, "We appreciate these kinds of collaborative
efforts. It is all about wildlife conservation and to be successful we need to
work together. All of the law enforcement agents working on this case are to be
commended for their dedication and hard work."
The Andertons operate a turf grass and landscaping business and hold a TPWD
permit to breed captive deer. In the spring of 2006 Game Wardens Dale Waters and
Eric Collins were looking into some possible deer breeding violations when they
received information that the Andertons might be in possession of stolen heavy
equipment and trailers.
The wardens relayed this information to Texas Department of Public Safety
Motor Vehicle Theft Division Sgts. John Murphy and Rex Wilemon, who drew up a
search warrant executed on two pieces of land owned by the Andertons, one in
Delta County and the other in Hunt County near Quinlan. Six Game Wardens and
Sgt. Brad Chappell of the TPWD Special Operations Unit participated in the
search, which resulted in the recovery of stolen farm machinery and construction
equipment. Deputies with the Delta and Hunt county sheriff’s departments and
members of the Northeast Texas Auto Theft Task Force also assisted in the
search.
The two DPS investigators presented the findings from their stolen
equipment investigation to FBI Special Agent Ken Paith who furthered the
investigation and developed sufficient evidence to indict the Andertons on July
8, 2009 for interstate transportation of stolen property. Also indicted on the
same charge was Timothy Shane Peavler, 37, of Lone Oak, Texas.
During this time Chappell received information that the Andertons had been
unlawfully importing white-tailed deer from Arkansas. The Game Warden sergeant
contacted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Mike Merida and began a
joint investigation along with Little Rock-based Fish and Wildlife Special Agent
Glen Pye and investigators with Arkansas Fish and Game Commission.
This cooperative effort eventually revealed the source of the deer the
Andertons were illegally importing. Merida and Chappell determined the Andertons
had paid more than $63,000 for at least 125 white-tailed deer and imported them
to Texas in violation of a state statute which restricts deer importation.
The two officers eventually learned that the Andertons had hired people to
travel to a deer breeder’s facility in northern Arkansas, load deer and return
to Texas where they delivered the illegal cargo to both the Anderton’s
properties.
Peavler pled guilty on July 27 last year to interstate transportation of
stolen property and was sentenced to six months in federal prison and ordered to
pay $42,403 restitution. The Andertons pled guilty Aug. 31.
"TPWD began limiting importation of live white-tailed deer and mule deer
into Texas in the spring of 2002 due to concerns over potential spread of two
diseases that could be devastating to our deer population, chronic wasting
disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis," Flores said. "We have worked hard to
prevent CWD from being introduced into Texas and so far our state has remained
CWD free."
Assistant United States Attorney Randall Blake prosecuted the case.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of
Texas No. 3:13-CV-01641
JAMES ANDERTON; JIMMIE ANDERTON,
Plaintiffs – Appellants
v.
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT; TEXAS ANIMAL HEALTH COMMISSION; CARTER
SMITH, Executive Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; CRAIG HUNTER,
Director, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; L. DAVID SINCLAIR, Chief Game
Warden, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; MITCH LOCKWOOD, Big Game Warden,
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; DALE WATERS, Game Warden, Texas Parks and
Wildlife Department; GARY COLLINS, Game Warden, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department; BRAD CHAPPELL, Investigator, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department;
AMBER ANDEL, Deer Breeders Program, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department,
Defendants – Appellees
SNIP...
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
From 2000 until 2010, the Andertons possessed a current permit issued by
the Department that authorized them to breed deer. Their breeding ranch was
located east of Dallas in Quinlan, Texas. In 2010, 2011, and 2012, the Andertons
submitted applications for renewal of the permit. The Department denied those
applications without explanation.
It has been alleged in this litigation that the Andertons’s permit was not
renewed because they had illegally imported deer from another state. The
Andertons had pled guilty, as shown in a federal court judgment of February 2,
2010, to the offense of conspiring to transport wildlife in interstate commerce
in violation of Texas law. The Andertons were charged under the general federal
conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 371. The substantive federal statutes setting
forth the offense were 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(2)(A) and 3373(d)(2). Those are
sections of what is called the Lacey Act. 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378. The Texas laws
they were charged in an information with violating were 31 Texas Administration
Code Sections 65.609(b)(2), 65.611(h), and 65.611(i). The Department may refuse
permit issuance or renewal to any person convicted of a violation of the Lacey
Act. 31 TEX. ADMIN. CODE § 65.603(g)(2) (2010).
As mentioned above, the Andertons deer-breeding permit was not renewed in
2010. Such a permit is valid from the date of issuance until the immediately
following July 1. 31 TEX. ADMIN. CODE 65.603(c). Apparently, then, as of July 1,
2010, four months after their February convictions, they no longer had a current
permit to maintain breeder deer. On December 6, 2010,
2
Case: 14-10297 Document: 00512982550 Page: 2 Date Filed: 03/26/2015
No. 14-10297
and May 1, 2011, Department officials entered and shot breeder deer on the
Andertons’ land. The Andertons allege the officials killed the deer in front of
their family and several witnesses. In April 2013, the Andertons brought suit in
the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the
Texas Animal Health Commission and the Department for violations of the Fourth,
Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act (“RICO”). They also sued several Department officials in their
official and individual capacities under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and RICO.
Additionally, they brought claims for injunctive and declaratory relief against
all parties. The district court dismissed the Andertons’ Section 1983 and RICO
claims against the officials in their individual capacities under Federal Rule
of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), and dismissed the remaining claims under Rule
12(b)(1). The Andertons appealed.
DISCUSSION
SNIP...
The Andertons argue that the breeder-deer industry is not a closely
regulated industry.
SNIP...
The Andertons argue the killing of the deer “shocks the conscience.” Even
if there were a protected property interest in the deer – an issue we will
analyze in the next section on procedural rights – Department officials were
acting pursuant to state law, not violating it. The Andertons failed to allege
facts that established the conduct of the officials was intended to injure them
unjustifiably. The district court stated that though the allegations “may raise
questions related to the most humane ways to kill deer, [they] do not plausibly
establish that the officials’ conduct was so egregious, so outrageous, that it
may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience.”
The Andertons have failed to demonstrate a violation of substantive due
process under the Fourteenth Amendment.
SNIP...
Under Texas law, though, breeder deer belong to the state, not the
permittee. See, e.g., TEX. PARKS & WILD. CODE §§ 1.011 (“All wild
animals . . . inside the borders of this state are the property of the people of
this state.”); 43.364 (“All breeder deer . . . are under the full force of the
laws of [Texas] pertaining to deer . . . .”). While a permittee may have
possession of the breeder deer, the deer are only “held under a permit[.]” Id. §
43.351. Nowhere do the statutes or regulations state that breeder deer become
the property of a permit holder.4 Regardless, even if they did give ownership of
breeder deer to permit holders, the Andertons were not permit holders when the
deer were killed.
While a permittee may have possession of the breeder deer, the deer are
only “held under a permit[.]” Id. § 43.351
S.B. No. 820
Texas Senate Bill
Relating to the management, breeding, and destruction of deer and to
procedures regarding certain deer permits.
View latest bill text Session:83rd Legislature (2013)
SHOCKING ONES CONSCIENCE VIDEO
*** Danger of Canned Hunting Indiana Wildlife VIDEO ***
Deer Smugglers Go to Prison
A Texas man and a Minnesota man have been sent to prison for transporting
wild deer across state lines. You may not have known that is illegal, but it is,
and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department takes it very seriously, as Jim Bell
reports.
By: Jim Bell, December 29th, 2008 08:21 PM
00:00 00:00
Everyone knows it's legal to hunt wild deer in Texas under controlled and
licensed conditions. It's also legal for people to get a license to breed deer
on private property and use them for private hunts. What's not legal is for the
deer breeders to bring deer in from other states. Greg Williford is in the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department's Special Operations Unit, and he says deer from
other states could bring a very serious animal disease into the state. It's
called Chronic Wasting Disease.
"Similar to Mad Cow Disease but it affects deer and elk. It's been found
in Wisconsin and I believe Colorado had it in their elk population at one
point.ξ It completely decimates the native deer population."
Deer hunting is a huge industry in Texas. Add up the money hunters spend
year round on hunting rifles, hunting and camping clothing and equipment, deer
leases, everything related to traveling to hunting areas, hotels, motels,
campgrounds, and you're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. A sick
deer from another state could start an epizootic that could spread and kill
thousands of deer, and do serious damage to the state's hunting economy.ξ
What were those two men doing that got them in so much trouble?ξ
Williford says it started when Robert Eichenour of Houston bought mature trophy
bucks with big racks from a rogue breeder named Brian Becker in Minnesota.
"Mr. Eichenour was able to buy them from Mr. Becker in Minnesota for
approximately 1500 dollars a buck.ξ Mr. Becker would bring the animals down,
they'd be placed on Mr. Eichenour's ranch in Grimes County and then he would
sell the hunt for this animal for anywhere between five and ten thousand
dollars."ξ
And that's per hunter. Over a four year period, Eichenour smuggled up to
$300 thousand dollars worth of deer to his ranch for these hunts. The question
arises: since he could breed deer legally as a licensed breeder, why did he need
to import deer?ξ Williford says:
"It was more economically advantageous for him to import these deer than
it was to try to raise these deer. It would take four to five years to raise a
deer with antlers of this quality anyway."
Williford says the Texas breeder just didn't want to spend the time and
money it takes to raise trophy deer to adulthood. Both men were caught after an
undercover investigation by Parks and Wildlife Department Game Wardens, and both
were charged with illegally transporting illegally captured animals across state
lines, which is a federal crime. Last month, both pleaded guilty and both are
headed for a federal prison. Williford says they can blame it on greed.ξ
Jim Bell, KUHF, Houston Public Radio News.
Owner of Sandia Deer Breeding Facility Bonded Out of Jail
Posted: May 08, 2014 6:07 PM CDT
Updated: May 16, 2014 6:54 PM CDT
SANDIA (Kiii News) - Fred Rich, the man arrested Wednesday for allowing
someone to enter a deer breeding facility and kill a 22-point buck while it was
still inside a pen, bonded out of jail on Thursday.
Rich is said to be the owner of the breeding facility at the Lonesome Bull
Ranch near Sandia, Texas. That facility is currently being investigated by Texas
Parks and Wildlife, and that's how the incident was discovered.
Parks and Wildlife officers are also testing whitetail dear from that
ranch for an infectious disease. More than 200 of the deer had to be euthanized
to allow for that testing, and the results are expected back in a few weeks. As
for Rich, if convicted in aiding the slaughtering of that deer, he could face up
to six months in jail.
It's not his first run-in with the law. Rich received time in prison for
federal charges that he scammed insurance companies out of thousands of dollars
in fraudulent mold claims.
Prosecutors said Rich, who owned a company called Mold Inc., and two other
men pled guilty to suing a technique called "cooking houses." It involved
wetting down the inside of a home, shutting doors and windows, and then cranking
up the heat to create mold.
The alleged incidents happened in Corpus Christi and in Portland between
2000-2002.
Geneticist Fined in Texas Deer Semen Case
An Illinois geneticist must pay $30,000 and serve three years of probation
for illegally obtaining valuable semen from whitetail deer in East Texas. A
federal judge in Tyler sentenced 55-year-old Raymond Favero of Braidwood, Ill.
Favero in...
if now is not the time to panic, after ignoring cwd for a decade, when
should we panic ?
good ol boy system alive and well in the great state of Texas, protect the
industry at all cost, including human and animal health.
where is the official announcement of this 4th case (or more cases), by
the TAHC and or the TPWD? we’re still waiting.
why is the media having to do the TAHC and or the TPWD job, and reporting
this critical information to the public domain?
of course, it took 7+ months and an act of Congress to finally confirm and
announce to the public that last mad cow in Texas as well. political science as
usual in Texas.
IF the state of Texas does not get serious real fast with CWD, and test
all those deer, that 5 year plan is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.
all cervid tested after slaughter, and test results must be released to
the public.
the tse prion aka mad cow type disease is not your normal pathogen.
The TSE prion disease survives ashing to 600 degrees celsius, that’s
around 1112 degrees farenheit.
you cannot cook the TSE prion disease out of meat.
you can take the ash and mix it with saline and inject that ash into a
mouse, and the mouse will go down with TSE.
Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel
Production as well.
the TSE prion agent also survives Simulated Wastewater Treatment
Processes.
IN fact, you should also know that the TSE Prion agent will survive in the
environment for years, if not decades.
you can bury it and it will not go away.
The TSE agent is capable of infected your water table i.e. Detection of
protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a CWD-endemic area.
it’s not your ordinary pathogen you can just cook it out and be done with.
that’s what’s so worrisome about Iatrogenic mode of transmission, a simple
autoclave will not kill this TSE prion agent.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
*** TEXAS TAHC DEER BREEDER CWD PERMIT RULES EMERGENCY ADOPTION PREAMBLE
***
TAHC ADOPTS CWD RULE THAT the amendments remove the requirement for a
specific fence height for captives
Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC)
ANNOUNCEMENT
October 3, 2013
snip...
Summary Minutes from 387th Commission Meeting – 9/10/2013
18
1) The first change is to the definition of “Physical Herd Inventory” to
remove the requirement that all animals in the herd must be restrained in order
to have the identification validated by the person performing the inventory
verification.
2) The second modification is the fencing requirement found in §40.3(a)
which provides that a herd premises must have perimeter fencing of a minimum of
eight feet in height and adequate to prevent ingress or egress of cervids. That
standard is found in the Uniform Method and Rules for CWD, but under the federal
regulations the standard provides merely that the fencing must be adequate to
prevent ingress or egress of cervids and the commission is modifying agency
requirements to meet that standard by removing the eight foot requirement.
The motion to approve the regulation amendment passed.
> The amendments remove the requirement for a specific fence
height...
> but under the federal regulations the standard provides merely
that the fencing must be adequate to prevent ingress or egress of cervids and
the commission is modifying agency requirements to meet that standard by
removing the eight foot requirement.
• Chapter 40, Chronic Wasting Disease, Herd Certification: The amendments
remove the requirement for a specific fence height, change herd inventory
requirements to allow verification through means other than a hands-on process,
and change the requirement for submission of samples in positive or suspected
positive herds to mortalities of any age. For regular enrolled herds the
required sampling age remains at 12 months.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Texas Certified Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Sample Collector, like the
Wolf Guarding the Henhouse
*** Infectious agent of sheep scrapie may persist in the environment for
at least 16 years ***
Gudmundur Georgsson1, Sigurdur Sigurdarson2 and Paul Brown3
PRION 2015 CONFERENCE FT. COLLINS CWD RISK FACTORS TO HUMANS
*** LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACTS PRION 2015 CONFERENCE ***
O18
Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions
Liuting Qing1, Ignazio Cali1,2, Jue Yuan1, Shenghai Huang3, Diane
Kofskey1, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Wenquan Zou1, Qingzhong Kong1 1Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 2Second University of Naples, Naples,
Italy, 3Encore Health Resources, Houston, Texas, USA
***These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect
human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic
human carriers of CWD infection.***
P.105: RT-QuIC models trans-species prion transmission
Kristen Davenport, Davin Henderson, Candace Mathiason, and Edward Hoover
Prion Research Center; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO USA
Additionally, human rPrP was competent for conversion by CWD and fCWD.
***This insinuates that, at the level of protein:protein interactions, the
barrier preventing transmission of CWD to humans is less robust than previously
estimated.***
From: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 9:29 PM
To: Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
Subject: THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE R. G. WILL 1984
THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE
R. G. WILL
1984
*** The association between venison eating and risk of CJD shows similar
pattern, with regular venison eating associated with a 9 FOLD INCREASE IN RISK
OF CJD (p = 0.04). (SEE LINK IN REPORT HERE...TSS) PLUS, THE CDC DID NOT PUT
THIS WARNING OUT FOR THE WELL BEING OF THE DEER AND ELK ;
snip...
*** These results would seem to suggest that CWD does indeed have zoonotic
potential, at least as judged by the compatibility of CWD prions and their human
PrPC target. Furthermore, extrapolation from this simple in vitro assay suggests
that if zoonotic CWD occurred, it would most likely effect those of the PRNP
codon 129-MM genotype and that the PrPres type would be similar to that found in
the most common subtype of sCJD (MM1).***
*** The potential impact of prion diseases on human health was greatly
magnified by the recognition that interspecies transfer of BSE to humans by beef
ingestion resulted in vCJD. While changes in animal feed constituents and
slaughter practices appear to have curtailed vCJD, there is concern that CWD of
free-ranging deer and elk in the U.S. might also cross the species barrier.
Thus, consuming venison could be a source of human prion disease. Whether BSE
and CWD represent interspecies scrapie transfer or are newly arisen prion
diseases is unknown. Therefore, the possibility of transmission of prion disease
through other food animals cannot be ruled out. There is evidence that vCJD can
be transmitted through blood transfusion. There is likely a pool of unknown size
of asymptomatic individuals infected with vCJD, and there may be asymptomatic
individuals infected with the CWD equivalent. These circumstances represent a
potential threat to blood, blood products, and plasma supplies.
O.05: Transmission of prions to primates after extended silent incubation
periods: Implications for BSE and scrapie risk assessment in human populations
Emmanuel Comoy, Jacqueline Mikol, Val erie Durand, Sophie Luccantoni,
Evelyne Correia, Nathalie Lescoutra, Capucine Dehen, and Jean-Philippe Deslys
Atomic Energy Commission; Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
Prion diseases (PD) are the unique neurodegenerative proteinopathies
reputed to be transmissible under field conditions since decades. The
transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to humans evidenced that
an animal PD might be zoonotic under appropriate conditions. Contrarily, in the
absence of obvious (epidemiological or experimental) elements supporting a
transmission or genetic predispositions, PD, like the other proteinopathies, are
reputed to occur spontaneously (atpical animal prion strains, sporadic CJD
summing 80% of human prion cases). Non-human primate models provided the first
evidences supporting the transmissibiity of human prion strains and the zoonotic
potential of BSE. Among them, cynomolgus macaques brought major information for
BSE risk assessment for human health (Chen, 2014), according to their
phylogenetic proximity to humans and extended lifetime. We used this model to
assess the zoonotic potential of other animal PD from bovine, ovine and cervid
origins even after very long silent incubation periods. *** We recently observed
the direct transmission of a natural classical scrapie isolate to macaque after
a 10-year silent incubation period, ***with features similar to some reported
for human cases of sporadic CJD, albeit requiring fourfold longe incubation than
BSE. Scrapie, as recently evoked in humanized mice (Cassard, 2014), ***is the
third potentially zoonotic PD (with BSE and L-type BSE), ***thus questioning the
origin of human sporadic cases. We will present an updated panorama of our
different transmission studies and discuss the implications of such extended
incubation periods on risk assessment of animal PD for human health.
===============
***thus questioning the origin of human sporadic cases...TSS
===============
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Confirmed Texas Trans Pecos March 18, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Cases Confirmed In New Mexico 2013 and
2014 UPDATE 2015
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
*** TEXAS Chronic Wasting Disease Detected in Medina County Captive Deer
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
*** Texas CWD Medina County Herd Investigation Update July 16, 2015 ***
Thursday, August 06, 2015
*** WE HAVE LOST TEXAS TO CWD TASK FORCE CATERING TO INDUSTRY
Friday, August 07, 2015
*** Texas CWD Captive, and then there were 4 ?
TEXAS DEER CZAR SENT TO WISCONSIN TO SOLVE CWD CRISIS, WHILE ROME (TEXAS)
BURNS
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
*** Wisconsin doing what it does best, procrastinating about CWD yet again
thanks to Governor Walker
*** Danger of Canned Hunting Indiana Wildlife ***
a review since the TEXAS 84th Legislature commencing this January, deer
breeders are expected to advocate for bills that will seek to further
***deregulate*** their industry...
Sunday, December 14, 2014
TEXAS 84th Legislature commencing this January, deer breeders are expected
to advocate for bills that will seek to further ***deregulate*** their industry
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Texas 84th Legislature 2015 H.R. No. 2597 Kuempel Deer Breeding Industry
TAHC TPWD CWD TSE PRION
Thursday, August 20, 2015
*** TEXAS TAHC DEER BREEDER CWD PERMIT RULES EMERGENCY ADOPTION PREAMBLE
***
Thursday, August 20, 2015
TEXAS CAPTIVE Deer Industry, Pens, Breeding, Big Business, Invites Crooks
and CWD
TSS
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