Chronic Wasting Disease: An Emerging Threat to America's Deer and Elk


	AP

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is threatening captive and wild populations of deer and elk in certain areas within the United States. There is concern that this disease may further spread and affect more deer, elk and/or moose herds. As a result, CWD has important scientific and political implications.

What is chronic wasting disease?
Where did CWD originate and how is it transmitted?
Whom does CWD affect?
What can be done?

What is chronic wasting disease?

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) affecting mule deer, white-tailed deer and Rocky Mountain elk. It may also infect moose. It attacks the nervous system and brain of the infected animal.
CWD is related to scrapie in domestic sheep and bovine spongiform encephalothapy (commonly known as BSE or "mad cow disease") in domestic cattle.
As CWD progresses, symptoms include reduced eating, repetitive walking patterns, possible blindness, excessive drinking, fine head tremors, loss of coordination and increased salivation.
There is no evidence that animals may recover once infected. There is currently no vaccine or treatment.

Where did CWD originate and how is it transmitted?

CWD was first identified in captive mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s. It was not observed in the wild until 1981. However, the origin and cause of the disease have never been definitively defined or pinpointed.
Most wildlife scientists agree that CWD proliferated in captive herds. The disease is is highly infectious and transmissible via saliva, urine, feces, and blood.

Whom does CWD affect?

CWD has been found in captive populations of elk and deer on game farms in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, New York, and Minnesota in the United States and in Canada and South Korea. Many of these infected herds have been eliminated (killed).
Wild populations of elk and deer have also tested positive for this disease in Utah, West Virginia, Kansas, New York, South Dakota, New Mexico, Illinois, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
To date, there is no proof of human infection, and scientists still do not understand the potential risk to humans. Due to the link between mad cow disease and its human counterpart (Crutzfeld Jacob Disease), scientists are warning the public about possible exposure to CWD through contact with infected brain and spinal cord tissue.

What can be done?

To halt the continuing spread of the disease, all states must cease the importation and exportation of deer and elk. States such as Texas, New York, North Carolina and Indiana have already taken this proactive step, while other states are considering full or partial bans. Banning their transport will help to contain the disease and prevent further dissemination by the game farming industry. Canada has already prohibited the importation of deer and elk from the United States.
On a larger scale, to reduce the potential of future biological threats from this and other zoonotic diseases, states must ban game farms and canned hunts. The largely unregulated canned hunting industry artificially contains animals in concentrated areas, increasing the likelihood of disease transmission. The feeding of these animals at stations where salivary contact is inevitable may result in the infection of all penned animals from a single diseased individual. In an effort to protect animals and the public, Wyoming, Montana and California have outlawed game farms.
The baiting or supplemental feeding of wild herds must also be outlawed. These artificial sources of food only serve to concentrate animals unnaturally, facilitating the spread of CWD and other infectious pathogens.
On Sept. 25, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared a state of emergency due to the threat of CWD. Congress is considering a $30 million study to eradicate this disease. Thus far, testing and "depopulating" are the chosen methods of eradication. But eradication methods in "farmed" elk are costing the taxpayer and the government $3,000 per animal. Therefore, certain states such as Colorado have rightly concluded that eradicating entire populations of wild animals is neither feasible nor efficient in stopping the disease.
To find out the current status of CWD in your state, please contact your state wildlife department. Encourage it to stop eradication procedures as well as suggest bans on canned hunts and game farming as long-term solutions.

Sources

Department of Agriculture. Office of the Secretary. "Declaration of Emergency Because of Chronic Wasting Disease." Docket # 01-019-1.

Herring, Hal. "Disease is Wasting the West's Wild Herds." High Country News 27 Sept. 1999.

Rose, Julie. Chronic Wasting Disease and Cervid Regulations by State within the United States. Michigan Department of Natural Resources. April 2002.

United States Department of Agriculture. "USDA and DOI Announce Formation of Joint Chronic Wasting Disease Working Group." USDA News Release No. 0195.02. www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/05/0195.htm.

Williams, Elizabeth S., Michael W. Miller, E. Tom Thorne. "Chronic Wasting Disease: Implications and Challenges for Wildlife Managers." Presented paper.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention website: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cwd/#

The Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance: www.cwd-info.org

Updated Feb. 21, 2007

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