Outdoors: Chronic Wasting Disease isn't coming – it's here
Wishful thinking was that the always-fatal neurological disease caused by a misfoldedprotein called prions in deer and elk would somehow contain itself. CWD is atransmissible spongiform encephalopathy and is similar to scrapie in sheep, mad cowdisease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Little by little, however, CWD moved closer and closer to the area until only those whoclaimed the disease was a hoax by the Pennsylvania Game Commission as an excuse to'kill more deer' understood it was not a matter if it would affect our area, but when. Twoweeks ago when became now after the PGC in conjunction with the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Agriculture, announced two deer had tested positive for CWD in a newarea of Pennsylvania. Two matured bucks — one taken by a hunter and one from a captivefacility — were detected with CWD in Luzerne County, 40 miles from the nearest wildCWD detection.
They will ultimately result in Disease Management Area changes later this spring – thedetails of which will be released following the Board of Game Commissioners meeting inApril. Certainly the presence of CWD in our backyard is unsettling, but as bad as thatnews was, last week it got worse when CWD was discovered on our doorstep when amature buck was detected in Packer Township, Carbon County.
This detection is the first in Carbon County and is more than 10 miles from any otherconfirmed CWD-positive deer. The deer was found dead by a landowner and wasseverely emaciated.
In Luzerne County the captive deer that tested positive for CWD in December was from abreeding deer farm. Initial positive test results from the Pennsylvania Animal DiagnosticSystem Laboratory were confirmed in the USDA's National Veterinary ServicesLaboratory in Ames, Iowa, December 23.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture placed the farm under a quarantine order forfive years. The order requires the farm to test any additional deer that die on the farm,and not transfer any deer on or off the farm, and any subsequent positive test results willextend the quarantine order requirements and restrictions for another five years.
Pennsylvania deer farms must participate in one of two stringent programs – the HerdCertified Program, or the Herd Monitored Program. The Herd Certified Program meetsU.S. Department of Agriculture CWD standards and is required for any cervid farmerwishing to ship deer across state lines. Both programs require proper IDs; record-keepingon all animals moved on or off farms; annual herd inventories; reporting of CWD suspectanimals and animals that die, escape or are stolen; maintaining a minimum 8-foot-highfence; obtaining permits to import animals from out-of-state; and other measures tomonitor herds for disease. Only farms enrolled in the Herd Certified Program arepermitted to move live deer across state lines, with official identification that will aid veterinarians in tracking disease origins in the event remaining deer die and testpositive.
CWD spreads through direct animal-to-animal contact, as well as indirectly throughprion-contaminated environments. CWD-infected deer shed prions through saliva, urineand feces, and infected carcasses contribute to environmental contamination.
Once in soil, CWD prions remain infectious for decades. Therefore, feeding deer isstrongly discouraged and is illegal within existing DMAs.
There is no evidence of CWD infecting humans or other species under natural conditions,however, much is still unknown about CWD, therefore the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention recommends not eating the meat of a CWD-positive deer. ChronicWasting Disease programs in captive deer are managed by the PA Department ofAgriculture and are necessary to help slow the spread of the disease and allow thesebusinesses to operate.
The PGC will host an informational meeting to answer questions from the public,Thursday, Feb. 27, form 6-8 p.m., at Penn State Hazleton, Graham Building Room 115,Parking Lot F, 76 University Drive, Hazleton 18202. For information contact the PGCCWD Hotline at 1-833-INFOCWD, email INFOCWD@pa.gov or go towww.arcg.is/1G4TLr .
(Dietz is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association)Contact the writer: outdoors@republicanherald.com
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