QUEEN CITY, MO. -- State and local officials raided a private deer processing facility in northeast Missouri Friday.

Representatives from the Conservation Department, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the State Agriculture Department and Schuyler County Health Department seized more than two dozen dead deer from a residence in Queen City.

The deer were to be processed and donated to the “Share the Harvest” program, which helps feed the needy.

The processing facility is owned and operated by Robert Aldridge, who is a Schuyler County commissioner.

Authorities said a call to the "Operation Game Thief Hotline” is what lead investigators to Aldridge's home.

The caller complained that the carcasses were laying out in the weather for days before being processed.

Conservation officials discovered that was indeed the case.

Reporter: "What did you find when you got there?"

"We found that a few of the deer had been harvested over the weekend, like say (November) 15th, that had not been worked up yet, and those were the deer we were concerned about that go into the ‘Share the Harvest’ program," said Lynn McClamroch, a district supervisor for the Conservation Department.

McClamroch said they feared the bacteria build-up in the deer would make the meat unsafe to eat. 

"He's a processor involved with ‘Share the Harvest’ program, and he must meet all state and local guidelines with meat, and that is one of the reason we were there (Friday) morning was checking on guidelines," said McClamroch.

The 26 carcasses will be disposed of in the Bevier area.

He said this is an isolated incident and encourages hunters to continue to give to the “Share the Harvest” program.

Conservation officials say Aldridge’s processing facility is legally licensed.

Aldridge told KTVO he would never sell meat that he wouldn't eat himself.

McClamroch said charges probably wouldn’t be filed in the case, but the agencies involved still had to discuss that topic.