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The USDA\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service<\/a> announced last Friday that waterfowl hunters in Canada will not be able to transport their duck and goose meat across the U.S. border. This blanket ban is a step up from the department\u2019s previously announced restrictions,<\/a> which prevented the importation of hunter-harvested waterfowl from specific control zones in Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cHunter-harvested unprocessed wild game bird meat\/carcasses, originating from or transiting Canada, will not be permitted to enter the United States regardless of the Canadian province from which the bird was harvested,\u201d the department explained in a press release<\/a>. \u201cHunter-harvested wild game bird trophies entering the United States from Canada must be fully finished, or accompanied by a VS import permit, or consigned directly to a USDA Approved Establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n The ban was announced around 6 p.m. on Sept. 2\u2014the day after hunting season<\/a> opened in Canada. This meant that some traveling hunters learned about these restrictions after they already had limits of birds on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not even sure if everyone up here knows about this yet,\u201d says Mike McLane, the owner of Prairie\u2019s Edge Outfitting<\/a> in Saskatchewan. \u201cBut I know people are upset about it. The first two groups we had were not happy\u2014they were planning to take home all the birds they shot.\u201d<\/p>\n The USDA put these restrictions in place because of the ongoing outbreak of High Path Avian Influenza (better known as bird flu.) The highly contagious disease has been spreading throughout North America since January, when it was first detected<\/a> in an American wigeon killed by a South Carolina duck hunter. An uncountable number of wild birds and more than 40 million domestic birds have died as a result.<\/p>\n The number of domestic turkeys and chickens that have been euthanized to protect the nation\u2019s agricultural industry climbed to 46 million this Wednesday, when HPAI was detected at a large egg-laying operation in Ohio. Additional cases were also recorded at poultry farms in Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin within the past week, according to the Associated Press<\/a>. This brings the country that much closer to the 51 million domestic birds that were depopulated during the last major bird flu outbreak<\/a> in 2015.<\/p>\n With these numbers in mind, it\u2019s not surprising that the USDA is doing everything it can to slow the spread of avian influenza. What\u2019s strange is how the federal agency is going about it.<\/p>\n In early July, the department had already enacted a ban on the importation of birds that were killed in specified control zones. As we reported<\/a> earlier this year, these added restrictions confounded waterfowl hunters, who noticed a disconnect between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s rules surrounding migratory birds<\/a> and the restrictions being put in place by the USDA.<\/p>\n Read Next: Smoke a Goose with the Wing Still On? Waterfowl Importation Ban Could Cause Confusion for Hunters at Canadian Border<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI think what\u2019s happening is you have two federal agencies [the USFWS and USDA] not communicating with another,\u201d Delta Waterfowl biologist Dr. Chris Nicolai told Outdoor Life<\/em> in July. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the USDA that\u2019s protecting agriculture. They\u2019re used to livestock, dealing with eggs and chickens. Then you have the USFWS, and they deal with bird identification and regulations. They don\u2019t talk to each other ever.\u201d<\/p>\n The USDA\u2019s Sept. 2 announcement took these restrictions one step further by banning the importation of all hunter-harvested game bird meat from any Canadian province. It has many hunters and outfitters wondering what the exact rules are and how the restrictions will help prevent the spread of bird flu in the U.S.<\/p>\n As others have pointed<\/a> out this week, the biggest hole in the USDA\u2019s current logic is that migratory birds are, well, migratory. The millions of birds that travel from Canada each fall are going to fly south whether we harvest them or not, and HPAI has been spreading across the continent all summer with zero help from hunters. Of course, once the birds migrate to the U.S., hunters can legally harvest them. <\/p>\n This is why Ducks Unlimited and other conservation organizations are calling on the USDA to reconsider its decision.<\/p>\n \u201cHunters are left to wonder why APHIS would reverse course on such a consequential decision, announced after hours on a holiday weekend, with zero notice or opportunity to be heard from stakeholders,\u201d Ducks Unlimited CEO Adam Putnam said<\/a> the day after the USDA\u2019s announcement. \u201cDU members are justifiably upset by the absence of science and the total lack of transparency around this sweeping regulation that does not appear to have even included the US Fish and Wildlife Service in its development.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time that hunters in Canada have dealt with restrictions on the importation of hunter-harvested waterfowl. In 2005, a global bird flu outbreak led to a similar situation at the U.S.-Canada border, and at one point during the season, hunters were being forced to throw away dead birds at the border to comply with USDA regulations. In doing so, however, those hunters were technically in violation of wanton waste<\/a> laws, which prevent sportsmen and -women from intentionally wasting harvested game meat.<\/p>\n Waterfowlers are now left to navigate this grey area yet again as they decide what to do with their harvested game birds. Some hunters and outfitters are interpreting the USDA blanket ban to mean that only \u201cunprocessed\u201d meat and carcasses are restricted\u2014which means hunters could <\/em>be allowed to transport cooked meat across the border. But McLane says he isn\u2019t taking any chances.<\/p>\nAren\u2019t These Birds Already Crossing the Border?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Hunters Are Caught Between Conflicting Regulations<\/strong><\/h2>\n