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Challenge Dismissed for Deer & Elk Transport in Kentucky

A legal challenge to Kentucky’s ban on transporting deer and elk into the state has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves of Frankfort, who said the lawsuit was premature because a state court has already struck down the law being challenged.

Reeves’s ruling temporarily turns away the challenge brought by the North American Deer Farmers Association, which challenged the state law on the grounds it violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

The case originated from the September 2007 arrest of Timothy Cory Looper of Livingston, Tenn., by Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife officers. Looper was transporting elk and deer which had been purchased from Hostetler Wildlife Farms in Miller, Mo., to a hunting ranch in Tennessee. He was charged with six felony counts of illegally importing elk and deer into Kentucky, and the state destroyed the animals.

Looper challenged the indictment claiming the law was vague because it doesn’t give fair notice of what activities are prohibited or include language that would prevent arbitrary enforcement. Meanwhile, NADeFA challenged the case on the federal level citing interstate commerce.

Reeves cited a ruling in April by McCracken Circuit Judge Craig Clymer that said the law was vague and therefore unconstitutional. Until there is a final appellate ruling on the law in state court, any federal challenge is untimely, he said. Reeves also noted that it’s uncertain whether the law would be enforced if members tried to transport deer and elk along Kentucky roadways.

Kentucky state law bans the importation of deer and elk to protect the state’s herds from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). State officials had enforced the law to prohibit anyone from bringing deer or elk across state lines, regardless of whether the animals were destined for another state.

Lawyers for the state asked the judge to dismiss the challenge in federal court because the constitutionality of the law was being questioned in state court and a final ruling had not been handed down.