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County commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve Larry Ledebuhr’s plans for a commercial game farm near Mound Prairie.
“I’ve had more calls on this issue than any other in 16 years of doing this.
People are definitely concerned,” said Commissioner Kevin Kelleher, who opposed the project.
Neighbors of the 300-acre site had expressed concerns of safety and the possibility of captive deer spreading disease to the wild population — in particular chronic wasting disease, which affects the animals’ brains and nervous systems and is found in deer and elk in North America.
Ledebuhr’s attorney, Skip Wieser, cited a letter from Carl Denkinger of the State of Minnesota Board of Animal Health stating all harvested animals over the age of 16 months are required to be tested for CWD through the submission of tissue samples to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.
“The threat of CWD was my main concern going into this. Now I see CWD concerns are going to be bigger in the wild than in the preserve due to safeguards. We need to find a way to support a business and see to concerns as well,” said Commissioner Ann Thompson, who voted in favor of the project.
Stipulations regarding dates for the hunting season and equipment used were also heavily debated.
Kelleher said the preserve should follow the state Department of Natural Resources’ hunting regulations, but Ledebuhr disagreed.
“This is separate,” he said. “This is a business on agricultural land.”
As approved, the preserve will allow bow hunting from July 1 through Jan. 31 and firearm hunting from Oct. 31 through Jan. 31. The same firearm regulations allowed for public hunting will be applied to the preserve.
Debbie DeFlorian wrote on Jun 22, 2006 7:44 PM: