Chronic Wasting Disease Update

May 3, 2005

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In July 2004, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (DAM) initiated the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Enhanced Surveillance and Monitoring Program which requires, among other things, captive deer and elk herd owners to routinely sample and test animals for CWD. As a result of this program approximately one month ago, New York State discovered its first positive case of CWD in a captive white-tailed herd.National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa confirmed the positive result from a six-year-old white-tailed doe from a captive facility in Oneida County. Oneida County is in central New York east of Syracuse and approximately 90 miles north of Wayne County, Pennsylvania. DAM then quarantined the captive facility (index herd) and began their investigation. The index herd was depopulated for further testing and all other herds associated with the index herd were quarantined.

During their investigation, DAM discovered that a sample from a four to five year old white-tailed deer that died from aspiration pneumonia at another captive facility was collected and sent for CWD testing as part of the mandatory CWD surveillance program. Since the herd was directly associated with the index herd, the sample was sent to NVSL which confirmed the second positive case of CWD in New York’s captive cervid population. On April 8, 2005, depopulation and testing of the 2 CWD positive index herds was completed and 5 of the 22 deer tested positive for CWD.

Upon the discovery of CWD in 2 captive facilities in Oneida County, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) began sampling wild deer in the areas around these facilities. On April 27, 2005, the DEC announced that it had received a preliminary positive result for CWD in a wild deer sampled in Oneida County. The positive sample was from a yearling white-tailed deer. The sample has been sent to NVSL to verify the results. To date, 236 CWD samples from wild deer have been submitted from the intensive monitoring effort.

(On 5-4-05 The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today announced that it has received the remainder of test results for chronic wasting disease (CWD) that were part of intensive sampling efforts in central New York. DEC has received two positive results for the disease out of 292 wild deer sampled.

As a result of these events, DEC and DAM are conducting public outreach in Oneida County and are aggressively pursuing inspection and enforcement at all captive herds across New York. DAM is still investigating and is currently sampling and testing deer from 2 captive herds directly associated with the 2 index herds. Results are not yet available. DEC will sample all deer killed within the containment area (see below) pursuant to nuisance deer permits and by hunters for CWD testing.

DEC is filing emergency regulations to prevent further spread of CWD in the wild. The emergency regulations will establish a containment area in Oneida County. Within this area, emergency regulations will:

· prohibit the movement of certain animal parts out of the containment area;

· establish mandatory check stations for any deer taken by hunters in the containment area;

· prohibit possession of any deer killed by a motor vehicle so DEC can acquire specimens for testing; and,

· prohibit the collection, sale, possession or transport of deer or elk urine taken from the containment area.

Emergency regulations that will apply statewide are:

· specify record keeping and reporting requirements for taxidermists and require measures to prevent live cervids from coming in contact with any materials, including taxidermy materials, that may contain the infectious agent that causes CWD;

· prohibit wildlife rehabilitators to take in wild white-tailed deer at facilities that house live cervids, unless they possess a specific permit from DEC; and,

· require retailers who sell deer feed to post a sign provided by DEC to advise buyers of the State prohibition on feeding wild deer; regulations will also prohibit the sale of deer feed that is packaged or labeled for wild white-tailed deer.

More information can be found regarding the developments in New York at http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/deer/currentcwd.html

New York’s discovery of CWD is cause of increased vigilance in Pennsylvania. Since the positive cases are outside of the 50 mile border radius set by the Game Commission’s current CWD response plan, no increased surveillance of wild deer is mandated at this time. However, the response plan is being reviewed and we are in regular contact with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) discussing mandatory testing of all cervids that die or are taken at captive facilities within the state. Currently, the PDA has a voluntary CWD monitoring and surveillance program. Of the over 800 captive cervid facilities in the state, less than a third are enrolled in the voluntary CWD certification program. PDA now is considering issuing an emergency rule to prohibit the intrastate movement of susceptible live cervids (white-tailed deer, elk, red deer, mule deer, black-tailed deer and hybrids of these species) except from herds enrolled in the voluntary CWD certification program, as well as mandatory registration of all other facilities holding cervids and CWD testing of susceptible cervids 6 months and older that die for any reason. These actions currently are undergoing policy review in the department.

Also, regulatory (Title 58) revisions have been drafted and are being reviewed by Commissioners. These regulations would give the Executive Director authority to take emergency action to ban the importation of certain animal parts from other states and/or ban the feeding of certain species to minimize the likelihood of disease spread. These regulatory changes would permit the agency to deal with various disease issues immediately, thereby reducing agency response time in crisis situations.