ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Anne Arundel County executive says he will keep a venison food relief program up and running despite being told by a state agency and other officials that it violates state law.

The Capital Gazette reported Thursday that Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman plans to continue the program that rewards hunters for donating venison to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank.

Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, a state senator and an assistant attorney general say the program is likely a violation of law because the county is giving hunters $50 for each deer.

Pittman funded the program with $128,000 in federal coronavirus relief dollars on Nov. 1.