Deer bait to have its day in court – Ludington Daily News

Brian Mulherin – Daily News Staff Writer

A petition was filed in Lansing Circuit Court seeking to have the DNR’s ban on baiting and feeding deer overturned Tuesday. The ban was issued by Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries August 28 after one deer was found to have chronic wasting disease at a captive deer operation in Kent County. The DNR has stated that baiting and feeding can concentrate deer and cause diseases like CWD to spread more rapidly. The petition and a motion for an expedited hearing were filed by attorneys Edward J. McNeely III and Matthew Malleis of Grand Rapids. The case is expected to be heard by Judge Joyce Draganchuck.

Among the petitioners is farmer Gerald Malburg of Oceana County, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, a store owner and hunters.

Malburg grows fodder beets and carrots on his Oceana farm and has said that the beets he planted this spring are specifically grown for deer feed and are not a type that could easily be sold to livestock farms. He also estimated about 46 percent of his carrots are “cull” carrots unsuitable for his primary market of restaurants. Malburg told the Daily News his carrots have no other market than deer feed or bait. The petition states he stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the order.

The DNR’s interim order prohibiting the baiting and feeding Full Story

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