Tuesday, November 11, 2003

BARRIE BARBER
THE SAGINAW NEWS

Dow Chemical Co. has hired professionals to shoot wild game along the Tittabawassee River floodplain sometime this week to determine if the animals are tainted by dioxin.

The hunt will extend south of Midland and downstream of Dow to north and upstream of the complex.

In Saginaw Township, the hunt will cover 250 acres north of Imerman Memorial Park along the river with property owners' permission, said Township Police Lt. Gary P. Grauf.

Shooters will take aim at 20 male and female adult deer, turkeys and rabbits, half of which will come from the Sanford area. Dow said in a statement posted on its Web site that the study is in response to hunters' concerns about eating animals in the flood plain.

The company, which said it has had input from mid-Michigan hunting clubs, needs the flesh to answer hunters' concerns, said spokeswoman Terri Johnson. It will release the results in the spring.

Saginaw Field & Stream Club President Daniel L. Burch welcomed the move, but said Dow has not contacted his group.

"We're very concerned about the dioxin level in the soil and in the animals," he said.

The shooters also must provide samples to the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The state Department of Community Health, DEQ and Department of Natural Resources have the option of overseeing the hunt, but it wasn't immediately clear if any agency would.

Monday, Saginaw Township Manager Ron Lee told Board of Trustees members the professionals will shoot inside Imerman Memorial Park "some night this week."

"They intend to get everything they need in one night," he said.

But both Johnson and Grauf said it will occur outside the gates of the park.

Lee said "professional hunters" will use night vision equipment to spot the animals and silencers to muffle the rifle noise. Grauf said the hunters have federal and state scientific wildlife collection permits that allow the shooters to hunt at night and use the equipment, which otherwise is prohibited.

Johnson could not answer when the hunt will occur. A U.S. Department of Agriculture official to whom she referred questions said he could not immediately comment.

Dow already has hired researchers at the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center at Michigan State University to conduct a $326,000 study on whether dioxin has affected fish, insects, and small mammals in the flood plain. Imerman, which is south and downstream of Dow, and Sanford, north of the company, are among the study sites. t

Barrie Barber covers politics and government for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9725.

© 2003 Saginaw News.