Owner fights state over deer's fate

Fifteen years ago Phyllis Goforth, aged 73 of Farmville, Virginia purchased from the Natural Bridge Zoo three Fallow Deer. She now has Five deer, two of the original a couple offspring and a White Tail that was brought to her five years ago by a person who found it by its mother who had died on the highway. Her farm has other animals and is located in rural central Virginia. On Wednesday Officials from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries showed up the take the Deer. They sited a law passed after Mrs. Goforth acquired her Fallow deer that prohibited the owning of Deer without a permit. They also said they had to take the deer to test them for chronic wasting disease. The test they claimed required the killing of the deer so their brain tissue could be examined.

Knowing that the Game and Inland Fisheries officials were coming she alerted the press who were there when the officials arrived. Not wanting a public spectacle they left without the deer. They have however initiated court proceedings against the woman.

If chronic wasting disease is the reason for the concern a new test has been developed that does not require the killing of the deer. It would seem advantageous to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to find out about this test and use it to bring this issue to a quick resolution. If they persist in the killing of the deer and it is found that they are free of the disease the huge stinking pile they find themselves standing in could be hard to walk away from.