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Court Rules Law Banning Deer, Elk Unconstitutional

The Kentucky Court of Appeals recently ruled the state’s law banning the importation of deer and elk to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease in local herds was unconstitutionally vague.

A three-judge panel ruled that Kentucky’s law did not clearly define what it means to “import” animals into the state. At issue was the case of a Tennessee man arrested in 2007 on charges of illegally importing elk and deer into Kentucky.

McCracken County Circuit Court Judge Craig Clymer had ruled previously that the state law under which Timothy Cory Looper was charged was unclear and thus void. Looper was not convicted.

“He engaged in no deception,” Chief Judge Sara Combs wrote in her opinion. ‘It is reasonable to believe that he drove through Kentucky in good faith — having no fair notice from a statue lacking the precision to alert as to the possibility of criminal consequences.”

Kentucky lawmakers in 2006 instituted a statewide ban on the importation of the animals into Kentucky. The law, as enforced, prohibited people from crossing Kentucky state lines with deer or elk, a measure intended to protect local herds.

Looper, of Livingston, Tenn., was arrested in 2007 near Paducah while transporting animals from Hostetler Wildlife Farms in Miller, Mo., to Wilderness Hunting Lodge in Monterey, Tenn. Looper was charged with six felony counts of illegally importing the animals into the state.

He had with him five elk, one deer, two antelope and 12 exotic sheep. The elk and deer were destroyed.

Shane A. Young, Looper’s attorney, said the law was poorly written and confusing. He said that made it difficult to understand exactly what was illegal.

Kentucky’s law was also challenged in federal court in a lawsuit brought by the North American Deer Farmers Association. However, because Looper had won his case, the NADeFA federal lawsuit was dropped. In the meantime, NADeFA also filed an injunction against the governor’s recent attempt to insert the word “transport” to the import law and the court ruled in NADeFA’s favor.

“We have been told that our suit and hearing have had a positive impact on both the Looper case and Kentucky’s new legislation,” says Shawn Schafer, executive director of the North American Deer Farmers Association. “It’s important to our industry to have consistent laws which do not obstruct interstate commerce, and we will continue to do all we can to support and facilitate the interstate transportation of deer, elk and other cervids.”