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Meat ban foils hunters’ plans
Mad cow disease in Canada means U.S. hunters can’t cross border with meat.
HENRY MILLER, Statesman Journal
June 28, 2003
Oregon hunters planning to head to Canada this summer may want to reconsider their plans.
Because of a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy — known as mad cow disease — confirmed on May 20 in a cow in Alberta, hunters will not be able to bring anything back but the trophies, and the memories, from anywhere in Canada.
“In terms of meat, you can’t bring any meat back,” said Teresa Howes, a spokeswoman for the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Denver.
Hunters will be allowed to bring back no more than two sets of cleaned antlers, hides or finished taxidermy mounts, she said.
The two-antler maximum is a rule that has to do with commercial antler importation, not the mad cow meat importation ban, Howes said.
U.S. and Canadian officials are conferring, and hope to have some resolution in late July to the sport-killed meat-importation ban, an official with the department office in Maryland said Tuesday.
The ban applies to all ruminants, deer, elk, bison, caribou, moose, musk ox, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and mountain goat.
Predatory species such as wolves, mountain lions or bears are not included in the ban.
Stew Stone of Salem, who has been planning and saving for two years for a hunt this September in Alberta, said nothing is going to stand in his way.
“I hope by that time they will have some kind of testing in place,” he said.
The dream hunt, a 21-day backpack trek trifecta for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer, is Stone’s 50th birthday present.
“Sept. 11 didn’t discourage me,” he said. “I went up there three days after the (terrorist) attacks.”
Through a combination of driving to Canada because of stoppage of commercial airlines flights, then a patchwork of “puddle-jumper” private flights once in Canada, Stone was one of 10 of the original party of 16 who showed up for the hunts.
If worst comes to worst this year, he will store the meat from his hunts in freezers in Canada until it can be cleared for import, he said.
“I understand, I don’t want to do anything to bring that stuff here,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing (the ban on sport-killed meat imports); it speaks to the severity of the problem.”
Already hurting for American clients because of the economic downturn, a lot of Canadian hunting outfitters said the situation becomes more dire with the ban on meat exports, Stone said.
“They’re already on the 50-50 (edge of bankruptcy). I think some of those guys will be selling their outfits in the next several months,” he said.
No meat, no trip, said Cliff Owens of Salem, who bagged a moose and a mule deer last year in Canada.
“Oh, yeah, my moose last year was 900 pounds of meat,” he said. “That’s a major problem.
“It ended up costing me another couple of grand to get the meat back.”
The pinch cuts both ways, Owens said.
Many Canadian outfitters are generous donors to Oregon events such as Oregon Hunters Association banquets. And they pay for spaces at sports shows.
“These guys come down here and spend a lot of money,” he said.
Mad cow disease is a chronic, degenerative disease that affects the nervous system of cattle and eventually results in death.
It is among a family of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
Other diseases in this family include chronic wasting disease, which affects deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep and goats. The human form of TSEs is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Henry Miller can be reached at (503) 399-6725.
Mad cow disease in Canada means U.S. hunters can’t cross border with meat.
HENRY MILLER, Statesman Journal
June 28, 2003
Oregon hunters planning to head to Canada this summer may want to reconsider their plans.
Because of a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy — known as mad cow disease — confirmed on May 20 in a cow in Alberta, hunters will not be able to bring anything back but the trophies, and the memories, from anywhere in Canada.
“In terms of meat, you can’t bring any meat back,” said Teresa Howes, a spokeswoman for the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Denver.
Hunters will be allowed to bring back no more than two sets of cleaned antlers, hides or finished taxidermy mounts, she said.
The two-antler maximum is a rule that has to do with commercial antler importation, not the mad cow meat importation ban, Howes said.
U.S. and Canadian officials are conferring, and hope to have some resolution in late July to the sport-killed meat-importation ban, an official with the department office in Maryland said Tuesday.
The ban applies to all ruminants, deer, elk, bison, caribou, moose, musk ox, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and mountain goat.
Predatory species such as wolves, mountain lions or bears are not included in the ban.
Stew Stone of Salem, who has been planning and saving for two years for a hunt this September in Alberta, said nothing is going to stand in his way.
“I hope by that time they will have some kind of testing in place,” he said.
The dream hunt, a 21-day backpack trek trifecta for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer, is Stone’s 50th birthday present.
“Sept. 11 didn’t discourage me,” he said. “I went up there three days after the (terrorist) attacks.”
Through a combination of driving to Canada because of stoppage of commercial airlines flights, then a patchwork of “puddle-jumper” private flights once in Canada, Stone was one of 10 of the original party of 16 who showed up for the hunts.
If worst comes to worst this year, he will store the meat from his hunts in freezers in Canada until it can be cleared for import, he said.
“I understand, I don’t want to do anything to bring that stuff here,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing (the ban on sport-killed meat imports); it speaks to the severity of the problem.”
Already hurting for American clients because of the economic downturn, a lot of Canadian hunting outfitters said the situation becomes more dire with the ban on meat exports, Stone said.
“They’re already on the 50-50 (edge of bankruptcy). I think some of those guys will be selling their outfits in the next several months,” he said.
No meat, no trip, said Cliff Owens of Salem, who bagged a moose and a mule deer last year in Canada.
“Oh, yeah, my moose last year was 900 pounds of meat,” he said. “That’s a major problem.
“It ended up costing me another couple of grand to get the meat back.”
The pinch cuts both ways, Owens said.
Many Canadian outfitters are generous donors to Oregon events such as Oregon Hunters Association banquets. And they pay for spaces at sports shows.
“These guys come down here and spend a lot of money,” he said.
Mad cow disease is a chronic, degenerative disease that affects the nervous system of cattle and eventually results in death.
It is among a family of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
Other diseases in this family include chronic wasting disease, which affects deer and elk, and scrapie in sheep and goats. The human form of TSEs is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Henry Miller can be reached at (503) 399-6725.
