FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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ELIMINATION OF IDAHO GAME FARMS

Commercial game farms that raise deer and elk have been established in Idaho, sometimes by profit-minded entrepreneurs and sometimes by ranchers seeking another way to use their grazing lands and their experience in raising animals for profit.

These game farm operations are a distinct threat to indigenous wildlife.  Animals raised in confinement often develop severe diseases, maladies that are usually treatable on animals in confinement.  But if confined animals escape, taking the diseases with them, disastrous epidemics in wildlife populations can result.  This has happened elsewhere in the U.S., and may well happen again.

In a recent article in Bugle magazine, renowned wildlife biologist Valerius Geist stated that, "The first rule of North American wildlife management, and the democratic hunting tradition upon which it depends, is that wildlife 'ownership' must be held exclusively in the public domain, as a public resource, with no private-sector interference.  The corollary is that wildlife must never become private property."

Game farms are basically not only nontraditional they are also undemocratic!  Game farm hunting will result in an elitist "activity" (for shooting animals inside a fence can't be called sportsmanlike) that only the wealthy can afford.  The article in Bugle magazine made the case that game farm operations also encourage "slob" hunters.

It should be noted that Wyoming and Montana no longer allow game farms.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs strongly supports the efforts of conservation groups throughout the State of Idaho to secure elimination of commercial game farms in Idaho.

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