State agency suing hunter who brought severed deer head with deadly disease into KY

A Louisville hunter stands accused of bringing a severed deer head that tested positive for a deadly disease into Kentucky and is now being sued over it, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Monday.

The state agency said in a news release it had filed a civil lawsuit against Nicholas Behringer, 47, of Louisville. Behringer could not be immediately reached for comment Monday afternoon.

The agency said the hunter illegally imported the deer head from Wisconsin and paid a $50 fine plus court costs in Shelby County District Court Jan. 3. Behringer, the agency stated, admitted to the violation, specifically state regulation 301 KAR 2:095. The head later tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

According to the agency, this is the first time it has sued a hunter accused of importing a diseased deer carcass into the state. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife says no deer or elk in the state has ever tested positive for chronic wasting disease, a neurological disease fatal in animals.

“Over the past two decades, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has tested more than 40,000 deer and elk in Kentucky for CWD as part of its efforts to prevent the spread and introduction of this disease into the commonwealth,” Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Rich Storm stated in the news release published Monday.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been no cases of chronic wasting disease reported in humans. Still, some studies suggest it’s harmful to certain primates, like monkeys, that eat infected meat or come into contact with the brain or body fluids of positive deer or elk.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife alleges the severed deer head came from Wisconsin, which documented its first case of the disease more than 20 years ago. It still contained the animal’s lymph nodes, spinal column and brain tissue, which are places the disease can occur, the agency said. It is legal for hunters to bring de-boned meat, antlers, cleaned skull caps and the hides of deer from other states, but these “high-risk” tissues must be removed.

Agency personnel later incinerated the head to safely dispose of it. At this time, there’s no risk to Kentucky’s deer and elk population as the head was frozen when it was inspected and the deer’s carcass was not disposed of in the state, the agency said.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife lodged a complaint against Behringer April 26 in Franklin County District Court seeking $1,900 in damages. The agency stated the hunter checked his 8-point buck in accordance with Wisconsin’s regulations.

He then brought the infected deer head into Kentucky to be taxidermied, the agency alleges.

Conservation officers followed up on information it received about the deer head and discovered it still contained high-risk tissues.

According to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, chronic wasting disease can be introduced into the environment if it comes into contact with infected tissues, such as discarding the tissues on or in the soil.

After it was first observed in a mule deer at a Colorado research facility in 1967, chronic wasting disease has since spread to 30 states and four Canadian provinces. It is fatal in white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, caribou and moose.

“The disease has been documented in every surrounding state except Indiana,” Wildlife Division Director Ben Robinson said in the agency’s news release, “so we want to keep it from spreading to Kentucky’s deer and elk herds.”