Deer Farming News Investigation

[Culvercreek hunt club]

.  If you did some research on CWD you would see that states that get CWD also get more numbers of deer and set records with top high scoring bucks.

 

 

Better stick with deer farming and skip the critical analysis. Tying those two items together about says it all for any arguments you try to make.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

"Jennelle, Samuel and their research team reached those conclusions after studying deer-harvest data from Wisconsin’s 2002 to 2013 hunting seasons, evaluating rates of CWD infection, and analyzing how alternative management plans would affect CWD and the herd"

 

Studying harvest numbers counts as science now? Yea I'd go with that.

 

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/videonetwork/3414450242001?odyssey=mod|tvideo2|article

Yea good luck with that one. Wait till the lawsuits start flying at these people.  Its kinda funny how it always ends up with the high fence hunting.  CWD is political and money driven. States are losing their battles with more and more hunters heading behind the fence and they are digging for any ground they can get.  LOL..Texas, here we come. High fence will prevail.

 

Cant wait till this live test is out on the market.  I hope you smucks have alot of salt because you are going to be eating so much crow you will be crapping feathers.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Better stick with deer farming and skip the critical analysis. Tying those two items together about says it all for any arguments you try to make.

Prove me wrong Jack!!!!!!!!!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Still waiting for a link to another study or two.....

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Prove me wrong Jack!!!!!!!!!

CWD produces higher deer numbers and bigger buck? That is the correlation you are making no me. you prove the correlation.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

First off, less than 1% of QDMA members use the QDMA Forums..... people are upset because a few long time members and posters were trying to strong arm and threaten the QDMA if it did not change it's stance on the MDDI.  The MDDI is an aggressive confrontational group trying to change the Minnesota DNR via tactics the QDMA does not agree with.

 

MDDI is Minnesota Deer Density Initiative.

 

Four Seasons Whitetails is on record on these forums of saying he hopes CWD spreads to all of NY.  Maybe we should all take his quotes and links of that thread and go post them on Deer Farm Forums, or better yet, call the media and get a story in Print.   

Oh please get them here.... Please go to a deer farm site and see everyone of their thought on CWD in their states.

 

The biggest thing is your own poll you put up makes you sound like a fool. HaHa.

 

Sorry i cant play with ya today. Off to Clymer Ny to deliver 15 bred does to another new deer farmer. Spring is a great time of year.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Four Season Whitetails

[Four Season Whitetail's]

CWD produces higher deer numbers and bigger buck? That is the correlation you are making no me. you prove the correlation.

Not real bright on the subject i see!    We were told when CWD hit any state it would wipe out the herds.  Yet we see all these states with CWD on the ground for 10,20,30 years and they still kill record numbers of deer each year and the same 4 out of the top 5 states in the record books year after year are CWD positive states, for years.

 

Same states keep having the farmers and car ins. companies complain that there are just to many deer.. Now please do tell us how this can even be?  We have a freaking disease that is going to kill the masses remember.

 

What a joke. They cant beat high fence so they try and use their last and only weapon.  Trust me when i say...They will not have that weapon to use very much longer and i promise you that you will hear it from mountain top to mountain top.   Get Ready!

[WesternNY]

You bet ya. If you were half as smart about this cwd stuff as you play out to be, please.

 

My Answers will be in red.

First off,  I never claimed to be Smart about CWD stuff, however I do answer you questions and when I do I try to answer them with logic and not insert foot into mouth like you do.   You are making your cause difficult with the things you say.  

 

1. Show us where CWD has had any impact on the wild herd numbers in any state.

CWD is 100% fatal, epidemics are self sustaining in both wild and farmed deer, there is no cure, no vaccine, spread by urine, feces, saliva, blood.  It doesn't take a rocket scientists to see how CWD is having an impact on the wild herd.  It is spreading, and can spread quickly.  One on farm in Wisconsin, one deer had the disease, it went from 1 of 76 having the disease to 60 of 76 having the disease in 5 years.  In the wild the numbers of deer with CWD continues to climb.  In Wisconsin's CWD management area it has climbed from 8 percent to over 20% in 11 years....  But tell yourself this disease will have no impact on the wild deer herd... and again please tell us how you hope it comes back to NY!

 

 

2. Please explain how these states can have CWD for years and still kill record numbers of deer each year.

You are claiming this, you provide the data.  CWD doesn't kill a deer immediately, and the spread is not like ebola.

 

3 Please explain how this disease is killing the deer in the top 5 states in the record books.Mature deer!

Better soils, better age structure, pretty simple.  Just because these 5 states kill record deer doesn't mean CWD doesn't impact the herd

 

4 Please explain the practice in Ny state of taking untested road killed deer out of known past CWD hot zones, pile them in a compost piles across the state and then have state worker put that compost in every flower bed up and down the Ny state thruway along with farmers spreading the free fertilizer across their farm fields.

First I heard of it, please provide the proof.  Currently NY State is the only CWD State that has eradicated the disease.  Current testing showed no CWD.

 

 

That is just a start and should be interesting to see a reply.  If you did some research on CWD you would see that states that get CWD also get more numbers of deer and set records with top high scoring bucks.

 

CWD is still in NY state now but remember..In order to find something, you have to look for it.

Recent testing found this to be false.   This disease is a tough cookie, it will evolve and science will continue to seek and find more info.

 

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Not real bright on the subject i see!    We were told when CWD hit any state it would wipe out the herds.  Yet we see all these states with CWD on the ground for 10,20,30 years and they still kill record numbers of deer each year and the same 4 out of the top 5 states in the record books year after year are CWD positive states, for years.

 

Same states keep having the farmers and car ins. companies complain that there are just to many deer.. Now please do tell us how this can even be?  We have a freaking disease that is going to kill the masses remember.

 

What a joke. They cant beat high fence so they try and use their last and only weapon.  Trust me when i say...They will not have that weapon to use very much longer and i promise you that you will hear it from mountain top to mountain top.   Get Ready!

Some of your people seem to think otherwise. They see a problem with your image to the hunters and the public and they admit that the transport of infected farm raised deer can transmit it to the wild herd,  It' on the internet, so it must be true?

 

From one of your forums

"My concern with doing that is I believe it will only draw more attention to a negative, something we don't want to do. My reasoning is that there are so many unknowns regarding CWD that it seems to me that no matter who we get to state it one way, there will be experts to state it another way and even our own experts will have to agree to certain negatives associated with the disease, including the fact that the transportation of farm raised deer can pass CWD to wild deer. I don't think anyone disputes that. When people hear that, nothing else will matter. The hunting public is a huge voting block and they do not agree with what we do, regardless of CWD, they just don't like what we do. So, the battle would be against the current, one I think we will never win. The fight is on our legal right to free trade and interstate commerce."

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I think the best bet is to just close the boarders to transport of live animals like Florida did. Just to be safe.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

 

Wow...You are easy.. You really drank that QDMA water huh.

 

You have to use a case that is older than you are and you argue present time CWD... The fact is the experts said CWD was going to kill all the deer. Like in a matter of a year or two once in a herd.  Ya thats held out huh.  The state of Wisconsin has more deer now then ever and them fools even had an open season kill all deer on sight the first time they had CWD come to town. 

 The herd came back in record numbers even with CWD in town.  That a fact.

 

You say big bucks are made from good soil?   Well dont they have to be mature to get that size?   How can they get to mature when the herd has CWD. Remember once a state gets it,it will run untill all the deer are dead.. This from white coats remember?

 

Really only Ny?  you may want to think that one through. Michigan got CWD from a taxidermist just like us. 

 

Ny state is not looking for CWD.. How can that be when they only test 1/2 of 1% of the herd in Ny state.  We on the other hand test 100% of our animals. who do you think will find something first even when the wild deer pass it on to high fence deer.

 

Last but not least.. This statement that you made about CWD shows that you really are clueless....  Please show us any case where CWD has been found in any other part of a whitetail besides the brain or nodes.  Please show me where something has ever been fould in urine, feces or saliva.

 

Now lets hear from some QDMA members that hunt CWD area and what they think its doing to the deer population. Shall 

Page 1 of 2 1 2 >

  

  #  

 03-19-2014, 09:56 PM

Bullwinkle 

QDMA Member

 

Join Date: Mar 2008

Location: NE Wisconsin

Posts: 1,693

 

 CWD backfiring?

Don't know how wide spread or true this is but found it interesting and made sense. 

Talked to a buddy in the CWD area around Madison today. He said: 

1. "CWD herd management is a joke. There are more deer than ever"

2. "People don't want to shoot does because they are afraid to eat them thus they only hunt trophy bucks. This policy has been awesome for improving the age class of deer. A lot of guys don't pull the trigger unless they want a taxidermy bill"

3. "Guys go up north to shoot does and fill tags/freezers where they don't need to worry about eating the deer"

Interesting perspective.

  #4  

 03-19-2014, 10:47 PM

gunther89 

Guest

 

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: Southwestern Wisconsin

Posts: 63

 

That might be true for his area but guys in my area of the CWD zone aren't going easy on the does. I still try and take out at least 1 doe a year and haven't had one tested yet. Between 4 sets of neighbors they on average shoot 10 does a year and to my knowledge they don't test any of them. Ask any local in the CWD zone about CWD and they will tell you they aren't worried about it.

 

 

 

 

[WesternNY]



For the King of Copy and Paste  Four Seasons...

 

Game Farm, CWD Concerns Rise at Boone and Crockett Club

 

Friday, March 28, 2014 Concerned about captive deer operations transmitting diseases to wild herds, the Boone and Crockett Club now officially supports state bans on commercial import and export of deer or elk.

The Club also opposes efforts to relax regulation of captive cervid breeding operations or to remove management authority over such operations from state wildlife agencies.

A full position statement, posted here, was passed at the Club’s December meeting.

The Club’s concerns were reinforced at the recent Whitetail Summit hosted by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), the first summit to focus on key issues and challenges facing free-ranging white-tailed deer.

“Of all the presentations, seminars and findings, I was most pleased to see the attention given to the connections between chronic wasting disease (CWD) and the game farming industry. This has been on our radar, and on the radar of QDMA, other conservation groups, state agencies and sportsmen for quite some time,” said Richard Hale, chairman of the Club’s Records Committee.

Hale added, “Congratulations to QDMA on one of the most impressive and well-run summits I’ve had the pleasure of attending and for keeping this issue front and center.”

CWD is a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose. The disease can be transmitted by direct animal-to-animal contact through saliva, feces and urine, and indirectly through environmental contamination. CWD is fatal in deer, elk and moose, but there is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans, according to the CDC and The World Health Organization.

Documented cases of CWD have been found in captive and/or wild deer and elk in 22 states and two Canadian provinces. In some, but not all, cases where the disease has been found in wild populations, the disease is present in captive populations within these regions.

In 2002, the Boone and Crockett Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation formed the CWD Alliance. Its purpose was to pool resources, share information and collaborate on ways to positively address the CWD issue. Other organizations have since joined the Alliance, including QDMA and the Wildlife Management Institute, which now administers the Alliance website www.cwd-info.org.

“Evidence strongly suggests that captive animals infected with CWD can serve as the source for the spread of the disease to other captive animals, and between captive animals and wild populations,” said Hale. “To reduce the risk to wild deer populations, several states passed laws prohibiting game farming or live captive deer and elk importation, but now they are fighting efforts to expand captive deer and elk breeding and shooting operations within their jurisdictions. The captive cervid industry is persistent in proposing new legislations to overturn these laws, or transfer the authority of captive deer and elk from state fish and game agencies to their respective departments of agriculture.”

No vaccine or treatment is available for animals infected with CWD and once established in a population, culling or complete depopulation to eradicate CWD has provided only marginal results. In fact, the prevalence of CWD is rising at an alarming rate in some infected wild deer populations. Prevention is the only truly effective technique for managing diseases in free-ranging wildlife populations. Consequently, what can be done is minimizing the spread of CWD by restricting intra- and interstate transportation captive, privately owned wildlife, which frequently occurs in game farming.

http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/featured_story.asp?area=news&ID=204

boone and crockett club position statement

REGULATION OF GAME FARMS First Adopted December 7, 2013 - Updated December 7, 2013

Situational Overview

The captive cervid industry, also referred to as game farming, uses artificial means to breed captive deer, elk, and other cervids for sale in shooting preserve operations. These game farms commonly transport captive deer and elk to other shooting preserves in a state or in other states.

Transportation of captive, game farm animals has been shown to increase the risk of spreading parasites and infectious, diseases, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis, to other captive and wild cervids in new locations. There is currently no way of testing live animals for CWD, and infected animals show no signs for at least 16-18 months post-infection. There is no vaccine, and despite fenced enclosures, captive animals often come in contact with wild populations thereby spreading diseases. Once CWD is present, the area cannot be decontaminated even if infected animals are removed. As a result, many states have banned or are attempting to ban the importation of captive cervids (as well as intact carcasses of hunter-killed, wild cervids) to lower the risk of spreading CWD and other infectious diseases.

Position

The Boone and Crockett Club supports state bans on importing or exporting captive deer and elk by game farming operations in order to protect the health of native populations. The Club opposes any legislation aimed at relaxing regulations governing captive cervid breeding operations or removing management authority over such operations from state wildlife agencies. The Club does not oppose the transportation of wild cervids by state agencies and non-governmental organizations for the purpose of re-establishing wild game animals to their historic, open ranges.

The breeding of captive deer, elk, and other cervids for profit to create abnormally large “trophy” animals for fenced shoots under non-fair chase conditions are addressed in the Boone and Crockett Club’s positions on “Genetic Manipulation of Game” and “Canned Shoots.”

http://www.boone-crockett.org/about/positions_GameFarms.asp?area=about&ID=6B455080&se=1&te=1

THE LANCET Infectious Diseases Vol 3 August 2003

Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America

http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473309903007151.pdf?id=baa1CkXPkhI3Ih_Vlh6ru

Friday, December 14, 2012

DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012

snip...

In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.

Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:

1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and

2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.

Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.

The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.

Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.

There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.

snip...

36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011).

The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.

snip...

The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).

snip...

In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.

snip...

In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.

snip...

Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.

snip...

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/qra_chronic-wasting-disease-121029.pdf

Singeltary submission ;

Program Standards: Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program and Interstate Movement of Farmed or Captive Deer, Elk, and Moose

*** DOCUMENT ID: APHIS-2006-0118-0411

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2006-0118-0411

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Game Farm, CWD Concerns Rise at Boone and Crockett Club

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/game-farm-cwd-concerns-rise-at-boone.html

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

*** cwd - cervid captive livestock escapes, loose and on the run in the wild

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/cwd-cervid-captive-livestock-escapes.html

*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep. ...

also, see where even decades back, the USDA had the same thought as they do today with CWD, not their problem...see page 27 below as well, where USDA stated back then, the same thing they stated in the state of Pennsylvania, not their damn business, once they escape, and they said the same thing about CWD in general back then ;

”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and consequently not their province!” ...page 26.

http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and consequently not their province!” ...page 26.

sound familiar $$$

Sunday, January 06, 2013

USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE

*** "it‘s no longer its business.”

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/01/usda-to-pgc-once-captives-escape-its-no.html

Saturday, June 29, 2013

PENNSYLVANIA CAPTIVE CWD INDEX HERD MATE YELLOW *47 STILL RUNNING LOOSE IN INDIANA, YELLOW NUMBER 2 STILL MISSING, AND OTHERS ON THE RUN STILL IN LOUISIANA

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/06/pennsylvania-captive-cwd-index-herd.html

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD quarantine Louisiana via CWD index herd Pennsylvania Update May 28, 2013

*** 6 doe from Pennsylvania CWD index herd still on the loose in Louisiana, quarantine began on October 18, 2012, still ongoing, Lake Charles premises.

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/05/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-quarantine.html

Thursday, October 03, 2013

*** TAHC ADOPTS CWD RULE THAT the amendments REMOVE the requirement for a specific fence height for captives

Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC)

ANNOUNCEMENT

October 3, 2013

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/10/tahc-adopts-cwd-rule-that-amendments.html

Monday, March 03, 2014

*** APHIS to Offer Indemnity for CWD Positive Herds as Part of Its Cervid Health Activities ???

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/aphis-to-offer-indemnity-for-cwd.html

Saturday, February 04, 2012

*** Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-16-age-limit-on-testing-dead.html

Sunday, November 3, 2013

*** Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Animal Carcass Management [Docket No. APHIS-2013-0044]

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2013/11/environmental-impact-statements.html

Sunday, September 01, 2013

*** hunting over gut piles and CWD TSE prion disease

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/hunting-over-gut-piles-and-cwd-tse.html

Monday, October 07, 2013

The importance of localized culling in stabilizing chronic wasting disease prevalence in white-tailed deer populations

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-importance-of-localized-culling-in.html

Friday, March 07, 2014

37th Annual Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting in Athens, Georgia (CWD TSE Prion abstracts)

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/37th-annual-southeast-deer-study-group.html

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Potential role of soil properties in the spread of CWD in western Canada

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/potential-role-of-soil-properties-in.html

Inactivation of the TSE Prion disease

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD, and other TSE prion disease, these TSE prions know no borders.

these TSE prions know no age restrictions.

The TSE prion disease survives ashing to 600 degrees celsius, that’s around 1112 degrees farenheit.

you cannot cook the TSE prion disease out of meat.

you can take the ash and mix it with saline and inject that ash into a mouse, and the mouse will go down with TSE.

Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel Production as well.

the TSE prion agent also survives Simulated Wastewater Treatment Processes.

IN fact, you should also know that the TSE Prion agent will survive in the environment for years, if not decades.

you can bury it and it will not go away.

The TSE agent is capable of infected your water table i.e. Detection of protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a CWD-endemic area.

it’s not your ordinary pathogen you can just cook it out and be done with. that’s what’s so worrisome about Iatrogenic mode of transmission, a simple autoclave will not kill this TSE prion agent.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

*** Chronic Wasting Disease Agents in Nonhuman Primates ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/chronic-wasting-disease-agents-in.html

*** our results raise the possibility that CJD cases classified as VV1 may include cases caused by iatrogenic transmission of sCJD-MM1 prions or food-borne infection by type 1 prions from animals, e.g., chronic wasting disease prions in cervid. In fact, two CJD-VV1 patients who hunted deer or consumed venison have been reported (40, 41). The results of the present study emphasize the need for traceback studies and careful re-examination of the biochemical properties of sCJD-VV1 prions. ***

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/M704597200v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Cross-sequence+transmission+of+sporadic+Creutzfeldt-Jakob+disease+creates+a+new+&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

Thursday, January 2, 2014

*** CWD TSE Prion in cervids to hTGmice, Heidenhain Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease MM1 genotype, and iatrogenic CJD ??? ***

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cwd-tse-prion-in-cervids-to-htgmice.html

OLD HISTORY ON CWD AND GAME FARMS IN USA

http://www.mad-cow.org/june_98_end.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/99feb_cwd_special.html#ggg

http://www.mad-cow.org/99feb_cwd_special.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html#bbb

http://www.mad-cow.org/cwd_cattle.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/archive_frame.html

 

 

Chronic Wasting Disease

This site is a joint project of the Boone and Crockett Club, Mule Deer Foundation, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. These non-profit wildlife conservation organizations formed the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance in January 2002 to address CWD. Other organizations have since joined the Alliance.

 

 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I think the best bet is to just close the boarders to transport of live animals like Florida did. Just to be safe.

You dont keep up much huh.  Ny did that...Against the law and now are being sued in a lawsuit filed by the Ny deer farmers.  Should be hitting the headlines soon.   You think the safe act is against your right... Same idea when you start pushing land owner rights and free trade.  Money does talk.

[WesternNY]

Is handling whitetail semen detrimental to your health?  

 

Your comments  Money does talk, and the countless other comments about how much money you get from farming whitetails... just goes to show all you care about is money and you or your deer farmers do nothing for conservation.  A question you have avoided for weeks.

 

No one here is backing you up or supporting you or even having empathy for you because of the ridiculous things you say.

 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

 



For the King of Copy and Paste  Four Seasons...

 

Game Farm, CWD Concerns Rise at Boone and Crockett Club

 

Friday, March 28, 2014 Concerned about captive deer operations transmitting diseases to wild herds, the Boone and Crockett Club now officially supports state bans on commercial import and export of deer or elk.

The Club also opposes efforts to relax regulation of captive cervid breeding operations or to remove management authority over such operations from state wildlife agencies.

A full position statement, posted here, was passed at the Club’s December meeting.

The Club’s concerns were reinforced at the recent Whitetail Summit hosted by the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), the first summit to focus on key issues and challenges facing free-ranging white-tailed deer.

“Of all the presentations, seminars and findings, I was most pleased to see the attention given to the connections between chronic wasting disease (CWD) and the game farming industry. This has been on our radar, and on the radar of QDMA, other conservation groups, state agencies and sportsmen for quite some time,” said Richard Hale, chairman of the Club’s Records Committee.

Hale added, “Congratulations to QDMA on one of the most impressive and well-run summits I’ve had the pleasure of attending and for keeping this issue front and center.”

CWD is a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose. The disease can be transmitted by direct animal-to-animal contact through saliva, feces and urine, and indirectly through environmental contamination. CWD is fatal in deer, elk and moose, but there is no evidence that CWD can be transmitted to humans, according to the CDC and The World Health Organization.

Documented cases of CWD have been found in captive and/or wild deer and elk in 22 states and two Canadian provinces. In some, but not all, cases where the disease has been found in wild populations, the disease is present in captive populations within these regions.

In 2002, the Boone and Crockett Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation formed the CWD Alliance. Its purpose was to pool resources, share information and collaborate on ways to positively address the CWD issue. Other organizations have since joined the Alliance, including QDMA and the Wildlife Management Institute, which now administers the Alliance website www.cwd-info.org.

“Evidence strongly suggests that captive animals infected with CWD can serve as the source for the spread of the disease to other captive animals, and between captive animals and wild populations,” said Hale. “To reduce the risk to wild deer populations, several states passed laws prohibiting game farming or live captive deer and elk importation, but now they are fighting efforts to expand captive deer and elk breeding and shooting operations within their jurisdictions. The captive cervid industry is persistent in proposing new legislations to overturn these laws, or transfer the authority of captive deer and elk from state fish and game agencies to their respective departments of agriculture.”

No vaccine or treatment is available for animals infected with CWD and once established in a population, culling or complete depopulation to eradicate CWD has provided only marginal results. In fact, the prevalence of CWD is rising at an alarming rate in some infected wild deer populations. Prevention is the only truly effective technique for managing diseases in free-ranging wildlife populations. Consequently, what can be done is minimizing the spread of CWD by restricting intra- and interstate transportation captive, privately owned wildlife, which frequently occurs in game farming.

http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/featured_story.asp?area=news&ID=204

boone and crockett club position statement

REGULATION OF GAME FARMS First Adopted December 7, 2013 - Updated December 7, 2013

Situational Overview

The captive cervid industry, also referred to as game farming, uses artificial means to breed captive deer, elk, and other cervids for sale in shooting preserve operations. These game farms commonly transport captive deer and elk to other shooting preserves in a state or in other states.

Transportation of captive, game farm animals has been shown to increase the risk of spreading parasites and infectious, diseases, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis, to other captive and wild cervids in new locations. There is currently no way of testing live animals for CWD, and infected animals show no signs for at least 16-18 months post-infection. There is no vaccine, and despite fenced enclosures, captive animals often come in contact with wild populations thereby spreading diseases. Once CWD is present, the area cannot be decontaminated even if infected animals are removed. As a result, many states have banned or are attempting to ban the importation of captive cervids (as well as intact carcasses of hunter-killed, wild cervids) to lower the risk of spreading CWD and other infectious diseases.

Position

The Boone and Crockett Club supports state bans on importing or exporting captive deer and elk by game farming operations in order to protect the health of native populations. The Club opposes any legislation aimed at relaxing regulations governing captive cervid breeding operations or removing management authority over such operations from state wildlife agencies. The Club does not oppose the transportation of wild cervids by state agencies and non-governmental organizations for the purpose of re-establishing wild game animals to their historic, open ranges.

The breeding of captive deer, elk, and other cervids for profit to create abnormally large “trophy” animals for fenced shoots under non-fair chase conditions are addressed in the Boone and Crockett Club’s positions on “Genetic Manipulation of Game” and “Canned Shoots.”

http://www.boone-crockett.org/about/positions_GameFarms.asp?area=about&ID=6B455080&se=1&te=1

THE LANCET Infectious Diseases Vol 3 August 2003

Tracking spongiform encephalopathies in North America

http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473309903007151.pdf?id=baa1CkXPkhI3Ih_Vlh6ru

Friday, December 14, 2012

DEFRA U.K. What is the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease CWD being introduced into Great Britain? A Qualitative Risk Assessment October 2012

snip...

In the USA, under the Food and Drug Administration’s BSE Feed Regulation (21 CFR 589.2000) most material (exceptions include milk, tallow, and gelatin) from deer and elk is prohibited for use in feed for ruminant animals. With regards to feed for non-ruminant animals, under FDA law, CWD positive deer may not be used for any animal feed or feed ingredients. For elk and deer considered at high risk for CWD, the FDA recommends that these animals do not enter the animal feed system. However, this recommendation is guidance and not a requirement by law.

Animals considered at high risk for CWD include:

1) animals from areas declared to be endemic for CWD and/or to be CWD eradication zones and

2) deer and elk that at some time during the 60-month period prior to slaughter were in a captive herd that contained a CWD-positive animal.

Therefore, in the USA, materials from cervids other than CWD positive animals may be used in animal feed and feed ingredients for non-ruminants.

The amount of animal PAP that is of deer and/or elk origin imported from the USA to GB can not be determined, however, as it is not specified in TRACES. It may constitute a small percentage of the 8412 kilos of non-fish origin processed animal proteins that were imported from US into GB in 2011.

Overall, therefore, it is considered there is a __greater than negligible risk___ that (nonruminant) animal feed and pet food containing deer and/or elk protein is imported into GB.

There is uncertainty associated with this estimate given the lack of data on the amount of deer and/or elk protein possibly being imported in these products.

snip...

36% in 2007 (Almberg et al., 2011). In such areas, population declines of deer of up to 30 to 50% have been observed (Almberg et al., 2011). In areas of Colorado, the prevalence can be as high as 30% (EFSA, 2011).

The clinical signs of CWD in affected adults are weight loss and behavioural changes that can span weeks or months (Williams, 2005). In addition, signs might include excessive salivation, behavioural alterations including a fixed stare and changes in interaction with other animals in the herd, and an altered stance (Williams, 2005). These signs are indistinguishable from cervids experimentally infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

Given this, if CWD was to be introduced into countries with BSE such as GB, for example, infected deer populations would need to be tested to differentiate if they were infected with CWD or BSE to minimise the risk of BSE entering the human food-chain via affected venison.

snip...

The rate of transmission of CWD has been reported to be as high as 30% and can approach 100% among captive animals in endemic areas (Safar et al., 2008).

snip...

In summary, in endemic areas, there is a medium probability that the soil and surrounding environment is contaminated with CWD prions and in a bioavailable form. In rural areas where CWD has not been reported and deer are present, there is a greater than negligible risk the soil is contaminated with CWD prion.

snip...

In summary, given the volume of tourists, hunters and servicemen moving between GB and North America, the probability of at least one person travelling to/from a CWD affected area and, in doing so, contaminating their clothing, footwear and/or equipment prior to arriving in GB is greater than negligible. For deer hunters, specifically, the risk is likely to be greater given the increased contact with deer and their environment. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with these estimates.

snip...

Therefore, it is considered that farmed and park deer may have a higher probability of exposure to CWD transferred to the environment than wild deer given the restricted habitat range and higher frequency of contact with tourists and returning GB residents.

snip...

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/files/qra_chronic-wasting-disease-121029.pdf

Singeltary submission ;

Program Standards: Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program and Interstate Movement of Farmed or Captive Deer, Elk, and Moose

*** DOCUMENT ID: APHIS-2006-0118-0411

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2006-0118-0411

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Game Farm, CWD Concerns Rise at Boone and Crockett Club

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/game-farm-cwd-concerns-rise-at-boone.html

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

*** cwd - cervid captive livestock escapes, loose and on the run in the wild

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/cwd-cervid-captive-livestock-escapes.html

*** Spraker suggested an interesting explanation for the occurrence of CWD. The deer pens at the Foot Hills Campus were built some 30-40 years ago by a Dr. Bob Davis. At or abut that time, allegedly, some scrapie work was conducted at this site. When deer were introduced to the pens they occupied ground that had previously been occupied by sheep. ...

also, see where even decades back, the USDA had the same thought as they do today with CWD, not their problem...see page 27 below as well, where USDA stated back then, the same thing they stated in the state of Pennsylvania, not their damn business, once they escape, and they said the same thing about CWD in general back then ;

”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and consequently not their province!” ...page 26.

http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf

”The occurrence of CWD must be viewed against the contest of the locations in which it occurred. It was an incidental and unwelcome complication of the respective wildlife research programmes. Despite it’s subsequent recognition as a new disease of cervids, therefore justifying direct investigation, no specific research funding was forthcoming. The USDA veiwed it as a wildlife problem and consequently not their province!” ...page 26.

sound familiar $$$

Sunday, January 06, 2013

USDA TO PGC ONCE CAPTIVES ESCAPE

*** "it‘s no longer its business.”

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/01/usda-to-pgc-once-captives-escape-its-no.html

Saturday, June 29, 2013

PENNSYLVANIA CAPTIVE CWD INDEX HERD MATE YELLOW *47 STILL RUNNING LOOSE IN INDIANA, YELLOW NUMBER 2 STILL MISSING, AND OTHERS ON THE RUN STILL IN LOUISIANA

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/06/pennsylvania-captive-cwd-index-herd.html

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD quarantine Louisiana via CWD index herd Pennsylvania Update May 28, 2013

*** 6 doe from Pennsylvania CWD index herd still on the loose in Louisiana, quarantine began on October 18, 2012, still ongoing, Lake Charles premises.

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/05/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-quarantine.html

Thursday, October 03, 2013

*** TAHC ADOPTS CWD RULE THAT the amendments REMOVE the requirement for a specific fence height for captives

Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC)

ANNOUNCEMENT

October 3, 2013

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/10/tahc-adopts-cwd-rule-that-amendments.html

Monday, March 03, 2014

*** APHIS to Offer Indemnity for CWD Positive Herds as Part of Its Cervid Health Activities ???

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/aphis-to-offer-indemnity-for-cwd.html

Saturday, February 04, 2012

*** Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-16-age-limit-on-testing-dead.html

Sunday, November 3, 2013

*** Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Animal Carcass Management [Docket No. APHIS-2013-0044]

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2013/11/environmental-impact-statements.html

Sunday, September 01, 2013

*** hunting over gut piles and CWD TSE prion disease

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/09/hunting-over-gut-piles-and-cwd-tse.html

Monday, October 07, 2013

The importance of localized culling in stabilizing chronic wasting disease prevalence in white-tailed deer populations

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-importance-of-localized-culling-in.html

Friday, March 07, 2014

37th Annual Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting in Athens, Georgia (CWD TSE Prion abstracts)

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/37th-annual-southeast-deer-study-group.html

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Potential role of soil properties in the spread of CWD in western Canada

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/potential-role-of-soil-properties-in.html

Inactivation of the TSE Prion disease

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD, and other TSE prion disease, these TSE prions know no borders.

these TSE prions know no age restrictions.

The TSE prion disease survives ashing to 600 degrees celsius, that’s around 1112 degrees farenheit.

you cannot cook the TSE prion disease out of meat.

you can take the ash and mix it with saline and inject that ash into a mouse, and the mouse will go down with TSE.

Prion Infected Meat-and-Bone Meal Is Still Infectious after Biodiesel Production as well.

the TSE prion agent also survives Simulated Wastewater Treatment Processes.

IN fact, you should also know that the TSE Prion agent will survive in the environment for years, if not decades.

you can bury it and it will not go away.

The TSE agent is capable of infected your water table i.e. Detection of protease-resistant cervid prion protein in water from a CWD-endemic area.

it’s not your ordinary pathogen you can just cook it out and be done with. that’s what’s so worrisome about Iatrogenic mode of transmission, a simple autoclave will not kill this TSE prion agent.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

*** Chronic Wasting Disease Agents in Nonhuman Primates ***

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2014/03/chronic-wasting-disease-agents-in.html

*** our results raise the possibility that CJD cases classified as VV1 may include cases caused by iatrogenic transmission of sCJD-MM1 prions or food-borne infection by type 1 prions from animals, e.g., chronic wasting disease prions in cervid. In fact, two CJD-VV1 patients who hunted deer or consumed venison have been reported (40, 41). The results of the present study emphasize the need for traceback studies and careful re-examination of the biochemical properties of sCJD-VV1 prions. ***

http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/M704597200v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Cross-sequence+transmission+of+sporadic+Creutzfeldt-Jakob+disease+creates+a+new+&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

Thursday, January 2, 2014

*** CWD TSE Prion in cervids to hTGmice, Heidenhain Variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease MM1 genotype, and iatrogenic CJD ??? ***

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2014/01/cwd-tse-prion-in-cervids-to-htgmice.html

OLD HISTORY ON CWD AND GAME FARMS IN USA

http://www.mad-cow.org/june_98_end.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/99feb_cwd_special.html#ggg

http://www.mad-cow.org/99feb_cwd_special.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html#bbb

http://www.mad-cow.org/cwd_cattle.html

http://www.mad-cow.org/00/archive_frame.html

 

 

Chronic Wasting Disease

This site is a joint project of the Boone and Crockett Club, Mule Deer Foundation, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. These non-profit wildlife conservation organizations formed the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance in January 2002 to address CWD. Other organizations have since joined the Alliance.

 

 

Do you really think people dont know that you copy off Terry Singleterry blog?   God you are so easy its down right funny. And you want to lead the QDMA push in NY.  Good One.   You might want to read what some of your brothers have to say.

B&C will fight their last fight just like QDMA. They want the money, When they have no record bucks to list there will be no need for them. Just like the QDMA.  Nice Try Though.

[WesternNY]

I am just doing what you do copy and paste copy and paste

 

http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/about.faqDetail/ID/209ea1b39c93f85dde9a5a4261400ea2

How Does CWD Spread?   It is not known exactly how CWD is transmitted. The infectious agent may be passed in feces, urine or saliva. Transmission is thought to be lateral (from animal to animal). Although maternal transmission (from mother to fetus) may occur, it appears to be relatively unimportant in maintaining epidemics. The minimal incubation period between infection and development of clinical disease appears to be approximately 16 months. The maximal incubation period is unknown, as is the point at which shedding of the CWD agent begins during the prolonged course of infection.

Because CWD infectious agents are extremely resistant in the environment, transmission may be both direct and indirect. Concentrating deer and elk in captivity or by artificial feeding probably increases the likelihood of both direct and indirect transmission between individuals. Contaminated pastures appear to have served as sources of infection in some CWD epidemics. The apparent persistence of the infectious agents in contaminated environments represents a significant obstacle to eradication of CWD from either captive or free-ranging cervid populations.

The movement of live animals is one of the greatest risk factors in spreading the disease into new areas. Natural movements of wild deer and elk contribute to the spread of the disease, and human-aided transportation of both captive and wild animals greatly exacerbates this risk factor. The apparent spread of CWD between captive and wild cervids is a matter of hot debate. Although strong circumstantial evidence suggests that CWD has spread from positive captive elk to wild cervids in some instances, it may never be proven which group of animals represents the source of infection. It is likely that the disease has been passed in both directions (from captive to wild animals, and from wild to captive animals).

   

 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Is handling whitetail semen detrimental to your health?  

 

Your comments  Money does talk, and the countless other comments about how much money you get from farming whitetails... just goes to show all you care about is money and you or your deer farmers do nothing for conservation.  A question you have avoided for weeks.

 

No one here is backing you up or supporting you or even having empathy for you because of the ridiculous things you say.

Do you think we care?  It is a business and smart people dont run a business to fail.  You have no clue how many people contact me off this site.  One just got a wonderful start in the bizz today.  Money does talk and the smart money will be with the guys that take advantage of the writing on the wall and have a great hobby that pays more than mosts full time jobs.  Thats a fact that many,many people are taking advantage of.  The future Jack.

[dbHunterNY]

but if you post it 12 times it means there is 12 times the importance

 

don't forget to count the occurrences in the post I started about having a meeting with the neighbors.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

I better hurry up and buy some of your deer so I don't miss the boat. This is like buying Microsoft stock in its early years.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

 

I am just doing what you do copy and paste copy and paste

 

http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/about.faqDetail/ID/209ea1b39c93f85dde9a5a4261400ea2

How Does CWD Spread?   It is not known exactly how CWD is transmitted. The infectious agent may be passed in feces, urine or saliva. Transmission is thought to be lateral (from animal to animal). Although maternal transmission (from mother to fetus) may occur, it appears to be relatively unimportant in maintaining epidemics. The minimal incubation period between infection and development of clinical disease appears to be approximately 16 months. The maximal incubation period is unknown, as is the point at which shedding of the CWD agent begins during the prolonged course of infection.

Because CWD infectious agents are extremely resistant in the environment, transmission may be both direct and indirect. Concentrating deer and elk in captivity or by artificial feeding probably increases the likelihood of both direct and indirect transmission between individuals. Contaminated pastures appear to have served as sources of infection in some CWD epidemics. The apparent persistence of the infectious agents in contaminated environments represents a significant obstacle to eradication of CWD from either captive or free-ranging cervid populations.

The movement of live animals is one of the greatest risk factors in spreading the disease into new areas. Natural movements of wild deer and elk contribute to the spread of the disease, and human-aided transportation of both captive and wild animals greatly exacerbates this risk factor. The apparent spread of CWD between captive and wild cervids is a matter of hot debate. Although strong circumstantial evidence suggests that CWD has spread from positive captive elk to wild cervids in some instances, it may never be proven which group of animals represents the source of infection. It is likely that the disease has been passed in both directions (from captive to wild animals, and from wild to captive animals).

   

 

Yeah this post show just how much of a fool you look like and are now back peddling, Post number 58...Your answers in Red remember. You say in that post its spread by all the above and now you print science that says nobody knows how its really spread.

Go Figure!

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Now I can finally afford my own hunting land. The money from the deer farm. Oh and I get it ag assessed? This is what I call dudesweet.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

You dont keep up much huh.  Ny did that...Against the law and now are being sued in a lawsuit filed by the Ny deer farmers.  Should be hitting the headlines soon.   You think the safe act is against your right... Same idea when you start pushing land owner rights and free trade.  Money does talk.

I will have to look into that. I thought N only banned import. I thought export was still an option for now.

[Sogaard]

I never really had a strong opinion of deer farming before this thread.  It wasn't something I ever wanted to do (high fence hunt), but whatever.  On the poll, which I answered before reading any posts, I voted Yes, No, No.

 

Thanks to this thread, I now want to punch all deer farmers in the face.

 

Way to rally support for your cause, FSW.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I never really had a strong opinion of deer farming before this thread.  It wasn't something I ever wanted to do (high fence hunt), but whatever.  On the poll, which I answered before reading any posts, I voted Yes, No, No.

 

Thanks to this thread, I now want to punch all deer farmers in the face.

 

Way to rally support for your cause, FSW.

Sorry you feel that way and not looking for support per say. Just the truth out there to counter all the false statements and lies spread for years by groups to try and save their skin.  In due time the tests will be here and then the lies will be over. After that i guess the masses will dictate what happens to the hunting world! 

[Larry]

^{you might want to check this out}

 

 

 

^{Wisconsin : Mysterious Marathon County case underscores lack of knowledge of CWD}

^{Date: March 10, 2014
Source: Marshfield News Herald}

^{Contacts:
Marshfield News Herald}

^{ELAND — It’s been almost five months since a prize buck on a game farm in eastern Marathon County tested positive for chronic wasting disease, and investigators are as befuddled about the case today as they were in November.}

^{The game farm, Wilderness Whitetails, and its affiliated breeding farm in Portage County have followed all of the protocols set forth by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection intended to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. Wilderness Whitetails is a 351-acre, family-run hunting ranch that started business 37 years ago, owner Greg Flees said in December. The disease was found in a routine test after a hunter killed the animal.}

^{The herd had been “closed” for more than a decade, Flees said, meaning that no deer had been brought into the operations from the outside. The breeding farm is double-fenced, which keeps wild deer from getting close to the captive animals to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, but the hunting preserve is not, in accordance with state regulations.}

^{No deer had tested positive on the preserve before; it was the first new CWD-infected deer tested on any Wisconsin farm since October 2008, and the farthest north a captive deer had been found to have the disease. The infected buck was one of the preserve’s 270 deer, game for people who pay for the right to hunt them.}

^{Flees cooperated fully with the investigation of how the buck got sick, said Paul McGraw, state veterinarian. But even with Flees’ help and subsequent investigative efforts, McGraw said he doesn’t think there ever will be an answer as to how that buck got sick — which leaves hunters in eastern Marathon County nervous.}

^{“This guy has got a real good record,” McGraw said. “This particular farm has done a lot (to prevent CWD exposure). There’s a low risk that CWD is in the breeding herd.”}

^{The case underscores just how little is known about CWD, and the knowledge gap makes it difficult to manage the disease.}

^{“There’s not been a lot of research done on it,” McGraw said. “And there are not a lot of good answers.”}

^{CWD upswing}

^{The Wilderness Whitetails case comes at a time when the disease continues to run rampant among wild deer in Iowa County and western Dane County, where the state Department of Natural Resources says that one in four adult male deer has the fatal disease. The prevalence rate of 25 percent is based on 2013 test results from that deer management zone. The rate has more than doubled since 2002, when 8 percent to 10 percent of bucks had the disease.}

^{The CWD stakes are high in a state that places a premium on hunting socially, culturally and economically. In 2010, deer hunting licenses and permits generated $22.7 million for the DNR, according to PolitiFact Wisconsin. Estimates of the overall economic impact to the state as a whole exceed $1 billion.}

^{CWD affects elk and moose as well as deer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was first recognized in 1967 and belongs to a family of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Other TSEs include bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease in humans. CWD, though, is distinct from those other diseases, the USDA said.}

^{The growth of CWD in southern Wisconsin, coupled with the Wilderness Whitetails case, is troubling, said Marcell Wieloch, 71, of Mosinee, a longtime deer hunter with gun and bow.}

^{“The elephant in the room, the fear that some people have, is if they shoot that deer, and eat that deer, sooner or later it’s going to transfer to Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease,” Wieloch said. “You start bringing those threads together.”}

^{No one understands specific causes of CWD. Most scientists believe, however, that TSE diseases are caused by proteins called prions. And scientists agree that CWD often is transmitted directly from one animal to another through saliva, feces and urine containing abnormal prions, according to the USDA.}

^{Records show the buck killed at Wilderness Whitetails never came in contact with another infected deer, so it’s a mystery as to how it contracted CWD. Three possibilities include that the buck got the disease spontaneously; that it came from exposure in the herd of the hunting preserve or breeding farm; or that it picked up the disease in the environment, McGraw said.}

^{“We don’t know if there are prions in the soil, whether it can survive a while in the environment,” McGraw said. “We don’t see any scientific way of naming any one of these possibilities as the reason (the Wilderness Whitetails buck had the disease.)”}

^{Unknown future}

^{The state DNR, which oversees CWD policy among wild deer, uses one main tool to quash the disease. It prohibits deer baiting and feeding in areas where CWD has been found in deer. Marathon County already was under the restriction because farm deer in Portage County had been tested as CWD positive. The Wilderness Whitetail case extended the region to Shawano and Waupaca counties, said Tami Ryan, chief of the DNR’s wildlife health program.}

^{The DNR also will step up its surveillance for CWD in the area to get a better idea how prevalent the disease is.}

^{“There is no CWD in the wild deer in Marathon County, as far as we know,” Ryan said.}

^{Did finding CWD in a captive herd increase the potential for the disease to spread to wild deer? It’s a concern, Ryan said, but there is no way to know.}

^{Wieloch would like to see the DNR take a more aggressive stance against CWD. Other states, such as Colorado, he said, have helped limit its spread by using sharpshooters to kill deer in CWD zones.}

^{Ryan said one reason the DNR hasn’t taken more drastic steps is because of the public and hunters as a whole, have opposed those measures.}

^{“We respond by social influence and outlook, attitude and opinion,” Ryan said. “The tide is shifting a little bit. Based on our past experience, we’re seeing more public sentiment that wishes we were doing more, taking a stronger stance.”} 

 





^{© Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance}

 ^{http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/images/cwd/cwd_map.jpg}

 

Edited April 3, 2014 by Larry