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House passes bill defining ownership and limiting field culling of captive deer after CWD detection
Summary
Lawmakers approved House Bill 509 to clarify breeders’ ownership of captive deer and to limit use of conservation emergency rule powers to cull animals inside breeding facilities following chronic wasting disease (CWD) finds in the wild; a floor amendment added live-test and double-fence exceptions for movement out of a CWD management zone.
The Alabama House passed House Bill 509, which clarifies that licensed game breeders own animals in their possession and restricts the authority to kill breeder animals inside facilities solely because of a CWD detection outside the facility.
Representative Sorrells, sponsor of the bill, told the House that HB 509 "does establish that the licensed breeder is the owner of the animals in possession, that these animals that they have bought, cared for, and bred are their personal property and not owned by the state of Alabama." He framed the measure as protecting businesses and livelihoods from what he called "government overreach." Sorrells also said the bill "does not restrict the killing of deer for additional testing due to a positive test outside the facility in the wild."
The debate focused on two core issues: (1) ownership of animals in breeding facilities and (2) how…
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