Maine Wildlife & Health Officials Agree; Don’t Eat Deer/Turkey Meat From Animals Hunted In These Maine Spots

It's a blow to those who plan each year to consume their catch; deer and turkey hunters across the state are being asked NOT to consume meat from specific areas of Maine.

Maine Wildlife Officials have joined with Maine Public Health Officials like the CDC to issue a warning to Mainers heading to the woods to hunt. They're saying that deer and turkey from certain regions in the state have an unhealthy level of PFAS (the forever chemicals as they're called) and should not be eaten.

Read More: Maine’s Hunting Seasons: Respecting Private Land Access This Fall 

According to a Mark Latti with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, spots in Kennebec and Waldo counties have been added to the list.

"The Department has sampled wildlife for PFAS throughout the Unity/Thorndike/Albion area, and it was found that wildlife sampled within a mile of areas with high soil PFAS concentration levels resulted in animals that had levels of PFAS in their muscle tissue that warranted an advisory. The Department and the Maine CDC recommend that no one eats deer or wild turkey harvested in these wildlife consumption advisory areas."

Consuming meat tainted with PFSAs could negatively affect your health, experts say. The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says it could cause issues with everything from cholesterol levels, live enzymes, blood pressure and birthweight. In some cases, if can even lead to an increase in the likelihood of kidney or testicular cancer.

Read More: Increasing Deer-Related Crashes In Maine: What Drivers Should Know

These specific spots are being added to the list with others areas of the state in which high levels of PFAS were discovered back in 2021 and again in 2024.

As Latti explains, the 'do not eat' warning has spread to different parts of the state in just a few years because of what the deer and turkey have been feeding on.

"The wildlife advisory areas encompass multiple areas that have been contaminated by high levels of PFAS through the spreading of municipal and/or industrial sludge that contained PFAS. Deer and turkey feeding in these contaminated areas have ingested these chemicals and now have PFAS in their meat and organs. "

For more information about PFAS and what they do both to land and to one's health, you can check out the MDIFW's website, the Maine DEPs website,  and the Maine CDCs website.