Forsyth police investigating over 100 deer hides, hind legs disposed illegally

FORSYTH, Mo. — Police in Forsyth are trying to find out who left over 100 deer hides and several hind legs on private land on the edge of town.

"On Christmas Eve, we had a complaint from a resident of some illegal dumping of deer carcasses here within sight of the city limits inside of a community [on Shady Oaks Shore]," Police Chief Patrick Gray said. "Those carcasses appeared to have been dumped on private property, probably beginning to be dumped on the side of City Road and then pushed off onto private property."

Gray says this is a first for him.

"This is not normal. It's not uncommon to find a discarded deer carcass in and around the city of Forsyth on the creek bank or inside of the Corps of Engineers property, but not to this quantity," Gray said. "It's looking close to 100 or just over. It smells pretty rough. I've never seen that many dumped in one group before."

Gray has some ideas of what happened at this point in the investigation.

"We're looking into the possibility of a processor, illegal or unregistered processor, dumping those hides in that general area," Gray said.

Forsyth Police are working with the Department of Conservation on the investigation, which could lead to more than criminal charges for the person responsible.

"Currently the [crime could be] a misdemeanor status. What we would be looking at, there could be anything from the waste or something for illegal dumping that's spreading the Chronic Wasting Disease that is currently inside of the deer herd," Gray said. "There can be some fines or the suspension of privileges involved."

Gray adds that this is an example of why it's important to dispose of a deer the correct way.

"It's very important to be able to do that correctly and dispose of it even more so by Department of Conservation guidelines. Those need to be done in a registered landfill and or buried on the property that they are taken from," Gray said. "The Department of Conservation currently recognizes the fact that you could dispose of it inside of a dumpster. Oftentimes they want it double bagged to put inside of it so that if it goes to a landfill."

In the small town of Forsyth, Gray is hopeful someone who saw or heard something, will speak up.

"Hoping that we get some cooperation with inside of the local community. We already have to some degree that we're following up on some leads right now," Gray said.

Today, workers were able to remove the discards, and Gray says with what options they have, they will dig a hole and bury the hides and legs due to the CWD factors.