Posted March 12, 2014
The Kentucky legislature is considering a bill that would give landowners or their designees the authority to kill or trap any wildlife causing damage to their crops or personal property, according to an article by Kentucky Public Radio available here.
The bill, HB 448, was recently approved by the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee. The bill also requires on-site disposal and allows the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to promulgate regulations.
Jeff Harper, with the Kentucky Farm Bureau, said, “The one thing that we wanted to be very careful of was not to do anything to harm the sport of hunting or anything to harm wildlife, but at the same time, [the animals] were causing crop loss.”
State Division of Wildlife Director Karen Alexy Waldrop says management of the female deer population is a long term way to help remedy crop loss problems. She says “her agency wants to work with landowners and show them how to decrease the population on their properties.”
For more information on landowner liability, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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