CWD Management - Science or Money?

[lukew]

By Brandon Mason:

As I reported in my blogs on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) management in Wyoming in the spring (click here to read) and summer (click here to read) of 2020, the Wyoming Game & Fish management plan contains some potential management strategies that are very concerning, especially since there are still many factors we still don’t know for certain when it comes to CWD prevalence and lethality.

The Game & Fish is continuing the discussion on possibly moving hunting seasons later and/or targeting mature buck harvest on the winter range. While I commend the Game & Fish for their increase in surveillance and testing of animals to gather more information on CWD, there is still so much we don’t know with 100% surity and management strategies like this are very alarming.

What I’m about to line out is not popular to bring up, but I need you to hang with me here and walk through this logic. I’ve been dealing with the CWD topic in my career for over 20 years and until 2020, I hadn’t been asking the right questions on this disease and I’m concerned that those in game & fish departments around the country aren’t asking them either. I know the professionals I’ve talked to haven’t been and they didn’t seem to think their peers were either. Here we go…



Question #1: How do we know CWD is 100% fatal?

Currently there is no test for CWD on live animals. Reports are that researchers are working on tests for live animals, but they aren’t ready yet. The only concrete way to prove a big game animal has CWD is to take samples from dead animals, whether that be from road kill, from hunters at check stations, from hunters willingly sending in their samples to a lab for voluntary testing of their harvested big game animals, or from culling animals that appear to be infected....

READ THE FULL ARTICLE BELOW
https://blog.eastmans.com/cwd-management-ask-more-questions/​

 

[Muley bound]

Luke,
This is a fantastic article you posted. I really feel this is a side of the CWD debate that NEEDS to be addressed. I am not an expert on CWD, nor a scientist, but when I was in college I majored in biology with fish and wildlife being my emphasis. During that time, this was when CWD was supposedly running rampant and unstoppable here in Wisconsin. I remember growing up with CWD became a huge deal.
I can write forever on this topic....so I’ll try to brief it up a bit.
1) I feel CWD has been prevalent in deer herds longer than we know. Like the article suggested, at one point...it could have been considered just a natural cause...or even just some random fluke that a deer died from. But with the advances in science, deer could be tested, and come to find out it was prion infecting these deer. Also, it’s more prevalent when there’s more people in the outdoors to come along and find these infected dead deer.
2) I feel making a season in migratory or wintering zones for mature bucks is a mistake. Does CWD affect older deer...maybe , maybe not. Maybe an older deer, just like older people, are prone to die easier from disease or a virus. So maybe some research is needed before jumping on that bandwagon before wiping out mature bucks when they are easily targeted.
3) It has already been proven that trying to eliminate deer or the deer herd does NOT stop the spread of CWD. CWD is a prion that can continue to be around in the ground, even after that particular ground has been burned! Here in Wisconsin, they tried wiping out the deer in certain areas. Giving out buck tags for all year. The only thing that accomplished....making a bad deer population for years and CWD is still in the area!!! I knew people in these areas. At the time, they thought it was great idea. After a couple years, they realized it wasn’t a great idea at all. At first, they had freezers full of meat and a lot of antlers to go with it! Not one deer had tested positive for CWD. Then their deer herd was decimated for years. Only to find out years after, they’re still in a CWD infected zone with a recovering deer herd.
So all in all, I feel this is more of a money game than anything else. Now this is just my opinion. But with all the actual science out there, tests, research, etc....we still have a lot deer and healthy deer! Animals have a great way to adapt and deal with all sorts of disease, viruses, and even predators. So to me, there is money and maybe some sort of political agenda involved in CWD. Again just my standpoint on this.

 

[kidoggy]

just make a vaccine. it takes less than a year to do it doantcha know.

probably less since it is only for dumb animals.

ONLY problem I foresee is how to get the antivac ungulates to cooperate for the "good" of the herd. maybe deny them access to winter range unless they show their vac collar.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

Like everyone, I have an opinion on this, and I will share it now. CWD has been around a long time, so far with no major impact on ungulate populations. There are many reasons we’re seeing an increase in cases, and I believe 2 of these reasons account for the majority. The proliferation of deer farms, and a dramatic increase in the amount of carcasses being transported between states. Most, if not all states are now regulating which animal parts can be moved, so that’s good. That leaves the deer farms. Almost every case here in Minnesota has occurred within a short distance of a deer farm, usually linked back by confirmed cwd within that captive herd. At the extreme, I would like to see deer farms eliminated, but would settle for banning the transfer of live animals.

 

[Muley bound]

Like everyone, I have an opinion on this, and I will share it now. CWD has been around a long time, so far with no major impact on ungulate populations. There are many reasons we’re seeing an increase in cases, and I believe 2 of these reasons account for the majority. The proliferation of deer farms, and a dramatic increase in the amount of carcasses being transported between states. Most, if not all states are now regulating which animal parts can be moved, so that’s good. That leaves the deer farms. Almost every case here in Minnesota has occurred within a short distance of a deer farm, usually linked back by confirmed cwd within that captive herd. At the extreme, I would like to see deer farms eliminated, but would settle for banning the transfer of live animals.

Completely agree with you on this. I failed to mention this in my post. Trying to keep it as brief as possible, I forgot to mention the deer farms. You’re 100% correct on CWD always being traced back to a deer farm in the areas infected. No matter how these farms are regulated, CWD is always an issue. Again, they can shut that deer farm down, but the prion will still be there!