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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Where You Going With That Semen, Buck?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - A businessman claims in court that his partner can't account for all the semen taken from an enormous whitetail deer, and "flooded the deer market with excess straws" of deer semen, "ruining potential future opportunities."

The federal lawsuit involves semen from Energizer, whom plaintiff Todd Rawlake describes as "the world's second largest whitetail deer, ever."

Semen from prize animals has been frozen, preserved and sold in so-called straws since the technique was invented in the 1950s.

Rawlake, of Cold Lake, Alberta, claims he has 22.2 percent ownership interest in Energizer.

He sued John H. Ward dba Ward Whitetail Farm, WF Farm LLC, both of Plain City, Ohio, and Billy Joe Sage Jr. dba S&S Whitetail Galore, of Logan Ohio.

Rawlake claims he paid over $23,666.67 for his 22.2 percent of Energizer in May 2009.

Energizer is a purebred whitetail deer with an "exceptional pedigree and the potential to be a large and lucrative breeding deer," according to the complaint.

"As a yearling, Energizer had one of the largest frames ever grown," the complaint states.

"At two years old, Energizer was one of the largest pure bred whitetail deer.

"By the time Energizer was three years old, he had 589 inches of antlers and was the world's second largest whitetail deer, ever.

"Energizer's present value is estimated at no less than $800,000.00."

Rawlake says: "The primary purpose of the Energizer Partnership was to collect and sell Energizer's semen and sell it to deer farms located throughout the United States and the world."

He adds: "Per the terms of the agreement, Mr. Rawlake was entitled to three live breedings from Energizer each year and each live breeding is worth the same as one straw at the current market value.

"Energizer's proven market value in 2011 and 2012 was $5,000-$6,500 per straw.

"Mr. Rawlake was denied his live breedings in 2011 and 2012 for total loss of $30,000."

Rawlake claims the defendants have not provided an accounting about sales of Energizer's semen since 2010 and "in that same timeframe, Sage and Ward have also engaged in a practice of fraud and deception, providing Mr. Rawlake with inaccurate, incomplete, and fraudulent records concerning the collection and sale of semen being drawn from Energizer."

He claims: "there are at least 100 straws from Energizer unaccounted for and from which Mr. Rawlake is entitled to profits."

Rawlake claims his Exhibit 2 is a list of unaccounted for offspring of Energizer sold by various businesses and individuals.

"Also, [defendant] Sage informed Mr. Rawlake of five individuals who had purchased Energizer straws in 2011 accounting for $94,500.00 of the Energizer Partnership's $118,500.00 income reported to Mr. Rawlake by Ward. A true and accurate copy of the Energizer Partnership's 2011 Income Statement provided to Mr. Rawlake is attached as Exhibit 4," the complaint states.

"But upon information and belief, twenty-six (26) other individuals across Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Alabama, New York, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania purchased Energizer straws in 2011. Even if each of those persons purchased only one straw at the then-minimum market price of $5,000 per straw the revenues from those sales would total at least $130,000.00, resulting in a minimum deficiency of $106,000.00 in Energizer Partnership revenue for 2011 as reported by Ward to Mr. Rawlake."

Rawlake claim he has learned that "Sage gave another deer breeder enough Energizer sexed male semen to artificially inseminate 100 of [sic] does in 2011, i.e., 100 straws. Again though, Mr. Rawlake was never compensated for any of those straws and it appears that Sage profited by this transaction either monetarily or through credit or debt relief from the recipient deer breeder.

"Amazingly, when Mr. Rawlake approached Ward about this incident, Ward conceded that he knew of it, but did not know of the amount or even care about Sage's misappropriation of company assets.

"In further contravention of the agreement, Ward and Sage flooded the deer market with excess straws of Energizer thereby ruining potential future opportunities for the sale of Energizer straws."

Rawlake seeks more than $322,000 in damages for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud.

He is represented by Samir Dahman of Columbus.

Courthouse News could not locate an expert to describe how deer semen is collected.

However, an expert who asked not to be identified, who has a Ph.D. in animal husbandry from the University of California at Davis, described how he collected bull semen for his doctoral thesis.

The cow (or perhaps doe) is penned in and the bull (or perhaps buck) is led to the female. After the bull (or perhaps buck) mounts the female, the doctoral student, or semen collector, removes the male's penis from the female and puts it into an artificial vagina, where the semen is collected.

When asked if that were not a dangerous operation for the human collector, the expert replied: "Nah. Once the bull gets started he doesn't know what the hell is going on."

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