Language drafted by West & Jackson could gut regulatory authority of Wildlife Resources Commission
As you may recall, a dirty scheme to enrich a few wealthy landowners while risking destruction of North Carolina’s deer population through “Chronic Wasting Disease” (CWD) – and with it our hunting tradition – is being bankrolled by retired Food Lion CEO Tom E. Smith (now the largest deer farmer in the state) and foisted on you by Agriculture Commissioner STEVE TROXLER, Senator BRENT JACKSON (R-Duplin, Johnston, Sampson), and Representative ROGER WEST (R-Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon).
To give you a feel for the cronyism involved, Smith is a friend and big-dollar donor to Troxler, Jackson is a longtime buddy and frequent henchman for the commissioner, and West represents a district near the “canned” hunting preserve described below. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, on whose reservation the hunting preserve exists, is West’s top donor to the tune of $6,000.
Big bucks for big bucks
Under the scheme, the state would resume issuing permits for importation of captive deer – stopped in 2004 to prevent CWD from spreading to NC from the 23 states and 2 Canadian provinces where it is currently decimating deer herds – and transfer authority for the “captive cervid” program from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) to Troxler.
Their motivation is big money: Hunters pay “canned” hunting preserves up to $14,000 or more to shoot trophy bucks with genetically engineered antlers, some of which are so grotesquely huge that animals can barely hold their heads erect. Although prohibited under NC law, one such canned hunting preserve exists on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
