Bossier City Lawmaker Meets With Health Officials To Clear Way For Deer Meat Donations To Homeless Shelters

In the aftermath of state health officials destroying over 1,400 pounds of donated venison last week during a health inspection at the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission, Bossier City Representative Jeff Thompson (R) says multiple solutions are in the works so that homeless shelters can accept donations of deer meat from hunters.

On Monday, Thompson met with members of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. He says the meeting discussed how to update current laws to allow deer meat to be donated to homeless shelters:

We're gonna expand that to include hunter-harvested deer that's processed in the facilities that we know is processed safely, is dated and goes into charitable organizations like The Rescue Mission here in Shreveport-Bossier. We're gonna modify some of the existing codes, expand the law to include venison in these type of situations and make sure what happened in Shreveport-Bossier does not ever happen anywhere else in Louisiana again.

Thompson says the issue with the deer meat was over sanitary concerns. The donation was made by Hunters for the Hungry, who were very upset to see their donation not used the way they intended it to be used. Thompson says he's received assurance that Louisiana health inspectors will not do that again:

We have a commitment that the Department of Health and Hospitals is not going to get rid of any of the venison that's harvested and maintained by other rescue missions across the state.

For video of the entire 24-minute long press conference, WATCH BELOW: