Pantries Aim for Donations of 700 Deer
by Dickinsonpress.com Posted on 10/29/2009
A North Dakota program that distributes venison to the needy hopes to get 700 deer from hunters this fall.
The North Dakota Community Action Partnership, which administers the Sportsmen Against Hunger Program, accepted only deer killed with arrows last year, fearing that firearm-shot meat might contain lead fragments. The group says it will resume accepting deer killed with lead bullets.
Officials in North Dakota and other states have warned about eating venison killed with lead ammunition since last year, when a Bismarck physician conducting tests using a CT scanner found lead in samples of donated deer meat.
State health officials continue to recommend that pregnant women and children younger than 6 avoid meat from deer killed with lead bullets.
