Conservation Corner

Legislature Should Not Pass Baiting Bill

by James L. Cummins

The Mississippi Legislature is considering a bill to allow the hunting of deer and other species of wildlife over bait. Management programs which provide available nutrition for wildlife through planting (e.g., food plots) is good; this bill does not affect them. Research has shown that food plots benefit wildlife through improved health. Furthermore, they provide the hunter and landowner an avenue to do something positive for the benefit of a diversity of wildlife. Allowing the piling of bait can have harmful implications for wildlife. The passage of this bill would further deteriorate the tradition and sport of hunting. Today we face increasing attacks from the animal rights community that do not approve of hunting. The passing of this bill will play right into their hands.

According to Jimmy D. Taylor II, a Research Wildlife Biologist and President of the Mississippi Chapter of The Wildlife Society, "Baiting can cause biological problems for wildlife. The increased density of animals at, or in the vicinity of, bait sites will increase the likelihood of disease transmission. The risk of disease transmission directly from the bait is well documented, as target and non-target wildlife ingest wet, moldy or fungus infected grain or other feedstuffs. These events could have dramatic negative impacts on populations that wildlife biologists and sportsmen have worked so hard to restore and conserve. All of this is evermore important today, in light of our lack of knowledge of emerging wildlife diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)."

If you don't think this is serious, just ask a deer hunter in Southwest Wisconsin where there is an effort to kill 25,000 deer in that part of the state to halt a fatal outbreak of CWD. Experts say there is no evidence that CWD can infect humans, but the World Health Organization advises people not to eat any part of a deer with the infection. And venison is a large part of many Mississippians' diet. Officials with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Mississippi Board of Animal Health are continuing efforts to monitor and begin proactive steps to prevent the disease. Currently, CWD has not been diagnosed in Mississippi.

"Preparations are being made to develop a CWD surveillance and monitoring plan for these cervids in Mississippi," former State Whitetail Deer Coordinator Larry Castle said. Castle said that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources banned all supplemental feeding and baiting of deer as a preventive measure to control the further spread of CWD in Wisconsin.

The Mississippi Legislature should not pass the baiting bills (House Bills 359, 500, 1019 and 1044). Our future it at state.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi. Their web site is www.wildlifemiss.org.