Mule Deer Head Found In LI Business' Freezer: DEC

LONG ISLAND, NY — New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police officers uncovered something fishy in Suffolk County recently, the DEC said.

On Jan. 4, four environmental conservation officers conducted a compliance check on a seafood facility in Suffolk County, the DEC said.

During the inspection, the officers found a mule deer head in the facility's freezer, along with two coolers full of deer meat and a coyote pelt, the DEC said.

The ECOs did several interviews and determined that the mule deer had been harvested in Montana, a state with increased cases of chronic wasting disease, the DEC said.

CWD is a highly contagious and fatal disease affecting cervid populations including deer, moose, and elk, the DEC said.

The officers seized the deer head and ticketed the individual who had imported it with possessing deer parts from another state, the DEC said.

The ECOs then sent the deer head to an incinerator to prevent the potential spread of CWD, the DEC said.