KETCHUM, Idaho – County commissioners in central Idaho where residents put out food for elk last winter are considering new regulations to prevent the practice.

The Idaho Mountain Express reported the county attorney on Tuesday presented to the Blaine County commissioners a draft ordinance revising the county’s policy on feeding big game animals.

The practice is prohibited in populated areas such as subdivisions, but there is no policy governing feeding elsewhere in the county.

The new ordinance would cover the whole county outside of municipalities.

The ordinance would make violations a criminal offense, likely a misdemeanor.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials set up 27 feeding sites in the county last winter.

But residents of at least one subdivision also fed elk during the severe winter.