Hunters Face Restrictions On The Import of Some Canadian Wild Game

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Hunters and others returning to the United States from Canada will be restricted from bringing back certain wild game or wild game products as a result of a temporary ruling by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA placed restrictions on the import of some wild game from Canada in May when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was confirmed in a domestic cow from a farm in northern Alberta.   The restrictions are to prevent the introduction of BSE into the United States.  

The ban does not include hides free of meat or blood, taxidermy-prepared mounts and antlers or horns, as long as the skull plate is removed from the skull and it is free of meat or blood.   Species included in the ban are deer, elk, moose, caribou, pronghorn, wild sheep, musk ox and bison.

Updates may be found on the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance web site at www.cwd-info.org   or on the USDA. web site at www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_hunting.pdf   .

BSE is a chronic degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. The USDA’s   Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service enforces import restrictions and conducts surveillance for BSE to ensure that this serious disease does not become established in the United States.

BSE is one of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. TSEs include such diseases as scrapie in sheep; bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle; chronic wasting disease in deer and elk; and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. All are diseases of the nervous system of the species they infect.