At the splendid South Dakota News Watch, Nick Lowery has dug into the details of CWD in Further spread of Chronic Wasting Disease alarms hunters, wildlife officials:
The discovery in March that a rocky mountain elk tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in Clark County — the easternmost case ever found in South Dakota — has provided scientists further evidence that the deadly disease is continuing to spread across the state.
The diagnosis comes as new research shows that CWD may be causing some North American deer and elk herds to shrink and has heightened concerns the disease could jump species and begin to kill other animals, including humans. So far, there is no evidence that the contagious disease can be spread to humans, though consuming meat from an infected deer is not advised.
CWD causes deer, elk, moose and caribou to literally waste away. The disease causes an infected animal’s brain tissue to break down and become sponge-like. As the brain breaks down, the animal loses some survival instincts and eventually loses the ability to feed itself.
The Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Health and the South Dakota GFP all recommend that people should not eat any animal that looked sick before it was killed or which tested positive for any disease.
“This is a scary disease,” said Chad Switzer, wildlife program administrator for the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks Department. “Knowing what I know about the disease, if I harvested a deer from an endemic area, I would have it tested.”
In addition to causing deer and elk to endure a slow death, CWD has a direct impact on hunting and could harm the state outdoors economy.
In South Dakota, deer hunters spent more than $160 million in the state in 2016, according to an economic analysis by the state Game, Fish & Parks Department. About 70,000 South Dakotans hunt deer and drive an industry with about 3,900 jobs and $125 million in wages across the state.
“Everyone in the state should have a stake in this,” said GFP big-game Biologist Steve Griffin. “It’s about our deer.”
The new case in Clark County, located west of Watertown, was also the first time in more than 15 years that a deer or elk in one of the state’s 70 captive deer facilities had tested positive for the disease. How the elk caught the disease is still a mystery, but an investigation is ongoing, said state Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven. . . .
Read the rest at the non-profit's website. We admire the copy this project is producing. About SDNW:
South Dakota News Watch, founded in 2017, is an independent non-profit committed to reporting the most important statewide stories, from agriculture to education, public safety to politics.
Funded by private donations and foundations, South Dakota News Watch is supported by several media organizations.
South Dakota News Watch journalists investigate important subjects, unravel complicated issues and tell stories that too often go untold—stories that make sense of our complex world.
While local media continue to serve their communities by reporting daily news events, South Dakota News Watch is focused on the big picture. That means informing and engaging South Dakotans so we can identify ways to make our great state even better and stronger.
The media companies involved in South Dakota News Watch have set aside competitive business pressures to collaborate in providing more watchdog, investigative and public service journalism. . . .
It's an intriguing effort in a state in which the population is so small that there's one only member of congress for the entire state.
Back to the CWD story--reported at a level of detail that's wildly successful--Lowrey reviews the state's past tepid response to CWD:
In 1997, a captive elk died and tested positive for CWD on a farm in the Black Hills. The South Dakota Animal Industry Board traced the animal’s origin and eventually found seven other CWD-positive animals. Most were in or near the Black Hills but one was found in McPherson County, northwest of Aberdeen.
After the 1997 discovery, GFP aggressively tested wild elk and deer killed near the captive herds. There were no new cases discovered. In 2001, the first wild deer tested positive for CWD. Since then GFP has tested 27,549 deer, elk and moose for CWD. Of those, 425, or less than 2 percent, came back positive.
Most of that testing was done before 2012, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding for a program that helped states monitor and manage the disease both in captive and wild populations. Since then, the state has relied on hunters to voluntarily submit deer and elk for testing.
In light of new research and to catch up with national best practices, the GFP in June 2018 embarked on a year-long project to develop a CWD action plan.
Switzer said drafting the action plan has been deliberately slow. It started with GFP big-game biologists reviewing the available science. Switzer then put together a group of hunters, taxidermists, and meat processors to help. Switzer also led a series of public meetings around the state to educate hunters or anyone else with an interest in CWD.
The plan hasn’t been finalized but a draft is scheduled to be presented to the Game, Fish & Parks Commission at its July meeting in Fort Pierre. If the commission agrees to consider the plan for adoption, it will be opened up to public comments for about 60 days. The Commission would take a formal vote to adopt the plan during its September meeting in Spearfish.
In addition to carcass movement restrictions for hunters, the plan may also change how taxidermists and meat processors dispose of deer remains.
Taxidermists will be asked to get trained in gathering samples from deer for testing. Meat processors may also be asked to help gather samples.
“The key point is, we’re looking at the human movement,” Griffin said.
What likely won’t get any attention is the well-intentioned feeding of wildlife, Switzer said. It’s a big problem, one that likely contributes to the spread of CWD but the backlash against banning or even severely limiting wildlife feeding could derail department efforts to build support for its work to slow the spread of CWD.
“Some would argue it’s more appropriate to work with the legislature first,” Switzer said of banning wildlife feeding.
The South Dakota Animal Industry Board regulates deer and elk farms through a permitting system. For about a decade, any time a captive deer or elk was diagnosed with CWD, the entire herd was destroyed. The USDA paid the owner for the loss under the program that ended in 2012. . . .
On Wednesday at the Mitchell Daily Republic, Sam Fosness reported in CWD forces changes for 2020 deer hunting season:
In an attempt to reduce spreading the deadly Chronic Wasting Disease, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department is planning to implement new changes for the 2020 deer hunting season.
During the GF&P's final CWD open house Wednesday in Huron, GF&P Wildlife Program Administrator Chad Switzer unveiled preventative measures aimed at reducing the spread of the disease that's been depleting the state's deer and elk population since the first known case in 1997.
"The overall goal is to reduce the spread, because we know it's been here for over 20 years," Switzer said to a group of hunters during the open house. "We are seeing CWD spread in other states more rapidly, but we want to be proactive in trying to eliminate this and help save our deer and elk populations."
CWD is a fatal neurological disease found in elk, moose, reindeer, mule deer and white-tailed deer, and is caused by an abnormal and indestructible prion protein in the brain of the afflicted animal. According to Switzer, the rare disease is easily transmissible and always fatal. Symptoms can vary, making it difficult to identify afflicted deer, Switzer said.
Using a new method for disposing of deer carcasses after the animal has been butchered is a primary focus for the GF&P's potential solutions to eliminate the spread of CWD. Switzer noted the disease isn't transmissible to humans, as there's been confirmed cases of CWD found in humans.
"We want to limit the likelihood of someone disposing a potential CWD afflicted deer carcass into an area where we know we don't have any confirmed cases," Switzer said, noting the Black Hills as being the area with the most confirmed cases. "We would like to see all of the carcasses be taken to a licensed landfill."
There are currently 25 licensed facilities in South Dakota permitted to dispose of deer and elk carcasses, which Switzer acknowledged may pose a challenge for hunters. Along with carcass disposal, taxidermy operations are also an area of focus for some of the new regulations the GF&P is hoping to implement in combating CWD.
"We want to work with taxidermists and plan to offer help in showing them proper ways of deer carcass disposal," he said. "It's going to be a long-term commitment, but we need to think about the future of our deer and elk."
Because CWD can be transmitted through saliva, urine, feces, and other bodily fluids, some states have out-right banned natural urine-based products used for hunting, along with enforcing other strict regulations. Wyoming and Colorado represent the states with the most prevalence of CWD found in their deer and elk populations, which have prompted the enforcement of more regulations.
"South Dakota doesn't have any restrictions at the moment in regards to carcass disposal and CWD, and we have very liberal rules and regulations," Switzer said.
While the majority of deer and elk confirmed with CWD have been detected in the southwest portion of the state, there was a recent confirmed case of CWD found in a captive elk on March 21 in the town of Clark, South Dakota.
In 2017, Switzer said the GF&P conducted a sample study on elk and deer in Custer State Park to calculate the prevalence rate in that particular area. According to the 2017-2018 sampling period, Switzer said there was a 15 percent CWD prevalence rate found in elk, while male deer had a 25 percent prevalence rate, which equates to 1 in 4 male deer in the population of that sample study.
"Those prevalence rates are alarming, and we're not saying the sky is falling, but we need to address this," Switzer said. "We're looking at this disease 20 to 30 years from now, and it has the potential to cause some serious harm to our deer population in the future."
In the GF&P's 20 years of monitoring the disease, there have been 203 elk and 194 deer that have tested positive for CWD. ... Switzer wrapped up the meeting and provided hunters a timeline of the next steps in drafting the new rules and regulations, which will include opportunities for public input before the final draft will be proposed to the GF&P Commission during its July meeting. "We want to work with our hunters as much as we can throughout this process," Switzer said. "We have to stay out in front of this disease to maintain the great deer and elk hunting our state has to offer."
We suspect every state in the union will need it's own smart and gutsy Jamie Becker-Finn to persist on CWD laws and regulations.
Image: A whitetail buck.
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