The Minnesota Deer Farmers Association has been fundraising for a while now in order to sue the State of Minnesota over new laws restricting deer farms.
Now it's taken the state and several agencies to federal court.
On Friday, Matt Sepic reported for Minnesota Public Radio in Suit seeks halt to tightened deer farm regulations:
A group of Minnesota deer farmers is suing the state over new regulations that they allege are intended to eradicate the industry.
In May, state lawmakers approved a moratorium on new deer farms in an effort to halt the spread of chronic wasting disease and protect wild deer.
Legislators also restricted the sale of registrations for captive white-tailed deer to immediate family members, and allowed those permits to be transferred only once.
In a federal lawsuit, the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association argues that the statute discriminates against farmers without immediate family and is an unconstitutional taking of private property by the government.
The new law also shifted regulation of deer farms from the Board of Animal Health to the Department of Natural Resources.
According to the lawsuit, the number of deer farming operations in Minnesota has fallen sharply from 274 in 2017 to 125 today.
According to the DNR there are around 3,000 captive white-tailed deer in the state.
Here's a copy of the lawsuit:
Minnesota Deer Farmers Asso... uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen
The group's lead lawyer is Erick Kaardal, who's gained some attention for serving as the Thomas More Society's lawyer in a case challenging Minneapolis's restrictions on anti-abortion protestors outside of abortion clinics and for election law cases, including some discussed in the November2022 New York Times article, Lawyers Who Advanced Trump’s Election Challenges Return for Midterms.
Here's a December 4 Facebook video of Minnesota Deer Farmer Association member and lawsuit plaintiff Steve Porter pitching a couple of items in the fundraiser to suppot the costs of the lawsuit:
We'll keep an eye on this story as it develops.
Image: From the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association webpage.
Related posts
- Is it hunting? In South Dakota, ‘wild’ game increasingly raised in captivity for profit
- MinnPost: In effort to curb CWD, DFL lawmakers agree to ban new captive deer farms
- Session Daily: Bill targets deadly deer disease with tighter proposed restrictions on farms
- VIDEO: MN House environment committee passes most sweeping anti-CWD measure to date
- DNR: Chronic wasting disease suspected in a wild deer in Bemidji area for the first time
- MN Chronic Wasting Disease dilemma: should new deer farms be blocked? The old bought out?
- Chronic Wasting Disease: St. Louis County permanently bans new or expanded cervid farms
- On Facebook, operator of CWD doomed Winona County deer farm wears Miller Scrap hat
- MN Board of Animal Health: CWD confirmed in quarantined Winona County captive deer herd
- Update: More on Miller family deer farm interests
- Senate DFL Leader Franzen raises conflict-of-interest concerns in Republican leader's role overturning bipartisan vote to protect wild deer
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