Senate Bill to Prohibit Abandoning Captured Game Animals

A bill being considered by the state Senate would make it a crime to abandon a deer, fish or other game animals caught in West Virginia.

The Senate Natural Resources Committee forwarded the bill Monday to the Judiciary Committee.

Under the bill, game animals cannot be abandoned without making a “reasonable effort” to retrieve it for human consumption. The bill carries maximum penalties of 100 days in jail and $2,500 in fines.

Col. Jerry Jenkins, chief of the Division of Natural Resources’ law enforcement section, says deer poachers every year use the head or antlers as trophies and leave the rest of the animal to waste.

Farmers with permits to kill crop-damaging deer would be exempt.

The bill does not include smaller, furry animals such as raccoons.