CWD Update

January 13, 2006

Update on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Activities

PA - From Robert C. Boyd, Assistant Director, Bureau of Wildlife Management, PGC

PGC is cooperating with the 17 states and Canadian provinces in the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in the development of a CWD response plan for the Northeast. The PA CWD plan is being used as the template because it is felt that the PA plan is very complete. An objective of completing this plan is for states and provinces in the NE to be preventing, preparing and responding to CWD in as consistent a manner as possible. A draft has been completed, and it is now being reviewed by representatives from NY and WV. We hope to have a draft ready for wildlife agency director review at their April meeting.

The Game Commission has a new wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Walt Cottrell. Walt came on board in late November, and will be handling CWD and other animal health activities for the PGC. Walt is housed at the Penn State Animal Diagnostics laboratory.

NY - From John Major, NYDEC:

"We have all the lab work done on our upstate surveillance (8,000+ deer since April 1, 2005, including 2,000+ from containment area), no additional cases found since last April."


WV - From Paul Johansen, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources

On September 2, 2005, the first confirmed case of CWD was found in West Virginia. A 2.5-year-old male deer, collected as part of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources’ ongoing and routine CWD surveillance effort, was confirmed positive for CWD. The deer was picked up as a road kill in the Slanesville area of Hampshire County.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources immediately implemented its CWD Response Plan designed to accomplish the following objectives.

• Determine the distribution and prevalence of CWD through enhanced surveillance efforts.
• Communicate and coordinate with the public and other appropriate agencies on issues relating to CWD and the steps being taken to respond to this disease.
• Initiate appropriate management actions necessary to control the spread of this disease, prevent further introduction of the disease, and possibly eliminate the disease from the state.

Specific action items that have been implemented to date include the following.

• A public informational meeting dealing with the topic of CWD was conducted on September 13, 2005 in Romney, West Virginia.
• News releases have been prepared and distributed in an effort to provide the public with the most up-to-date and accurate information relating to the ongoing CWD situation in Hampshire County. In addition, numerous media contacts have been conducted to provide the same up-to-date and accurate information relating to the CWD situation in Hampshire County to various reporters. This information has subsequently been made available to the public through television, radio and the print media.
• Close coordination and collaboration with appropriate state and federal agencies (e.g., West Virginia Department of Agriculture, West Virginia Bureau for Public Health and U.S. Department of Agriculture) and adjacent state fish and wildlife agencies (e.g., Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Pennsylvania Game Commission) and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine were initiated and are ongoing.
• CWD deer collection teams, comprised of personnel from the Wildlife Resources and Law Enforcement Sections, initiated and completed deer collection efforts within portions of Hampshire County. [A total of 206 animals were sampled by collection teams. An additional 17 deer were sampled from archery harvests.]
• CWD sampling teams, comprised of personnel from the Wildlife Resources Section, operated 9 biological checking stations throughout Hampshire County and collected CWD samples from hunter-harvested animals during the first 3 days of the buck season. [A total of 998 samples were collected from hunter-harvested animals.]

To date, CWD surveillance efforts conducted by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources have resulted in a total of 5 deer being confirmed positive for CWD in Hampshire County, West Virginia. These include the following.

• On September 2, 2005, the first confirmed positive CWD deer in West Virginia was reported. The animal was a 2.5-year-old male collected as a road kill near Slanesville, West Virginia during routine surveillance for the disease.
• On September 29, 2005, three more deer were confirmed positive for CWD. These animals were collected by CWD deer collection teams operating in the Slanesville area. The positive animals were all female and included one 1.5-year-old and two 2.5-year-old animals.
• On November 18, 2005, a fifth deer was confirmed positive for CWD. This animal was a 7.5-year-old female reported to our agency as a sick animal. While the animal did not demonstrate all the clinical signs for CWD (e.g., the animals was not emaciated), it was reported to have been suffering from neurological problems. Samples were collected, submitted for testing and results came back positive for CWD. The animal was found just outside the 5-mile radius associated with the first CWD positive animal near Slanesville, West Virginia.
• A total of 998 samples were collected from hunter-harvest deer during the first 3 days of the buck season (i.e., November 21-23, 2005) in Hampshire County and submitted for CWD testing. Diagnostic test results indicated CWD was not detected in any of these hunter-harvested samples.

Echoes from 2005 and future mega-trends

Wisconsin

Published Thursday, December 29, 2005

Lots of hot button issues remain from 2005. Conflicts among hunters competing for room to hunt, the startling loss of land available for public hunting and the ever-present Chronic Wasting Disease dilemma should make for an interesting, if challenging, year ahead.

While the number of CWD-infected deer has declined, the always-fatal disease continued to spread in southern Wisconsin. Infected animals have now been found within the Herd Reduction Zone in Jefferson, Dane and Sauk counties.

Yet another deer has turned up positive in southeastern Iowa County midway between the villages of Hollandale and Blanchardville. A total of 48 deer have tested positive for the disease in Iowa County as of Dec. 26, with several of those cases in proximity to the Green and Lafayette county lines.

To make matters worse, new outbreaks have surfaced in other states. New York and West Virginia are now struggling to find answers to the same questions raised by game managers and the hunting public in the Midwest.

New York officials have expanded the debate over an appropriate response, however, particularly as it pertains to game farms. The Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has endorsed the elimination of captive cervid populations in the region.

In contrast to Wisconsin's response, officials in New York have been far more emphatic about the connection between CWD and the movement of captive animals, both intrastate and across state lines. The association's leadership has asserted that the possession and transport of cervids constitutes the most serious threat for CWD transmission to the region's free-ranging deer herd.

Wisconsin officials have experienced some difficulty dealing with game farm issues. Jurisdictional disputes and a lawsuit by at least one game farm operator have slowed action aimed at eradicating captive herds in which the disease has been discovered.

On a brighter note, the pheasant population seemed strong throughout the fall season. After a significant weather-related die-off in the spring and early summer of 2004, survival rates improved greatly this year.

A robust native population, together with released birds from DNR hatcheries, made for some excellent opportunities on both public and private lands. Much of the credit for improved hunting opportunities goes to groups like the Blanchardville Rod and Gun Club whose members have reared and released thousands of birds in recent years at public hunting grounds in Green and Lafayette counties.

For fishing devotees, Yellowstone Lake in Lafayette County continues to improve as innovative management techniques and extensive work on habitat projects have begun to show results. Carp removal and stocking of game fish have led to improved slot limits.

The eventual restocking of Beckman Lake at Browntown-Cadiz Springs State Wildlife Area will hopefully add to the fishing opportunities already available at Zander Lake.

Deer hunting remains highly popular with area sportsmen and women. But with DNR sharpshooters, extended hunting seasons and more liberal ag tag rules over the past few years, the deer population appears to be down. The 2005 deer harvest declined by more than 11 percent within the 11-county South Central Region.

DNR management plans for 2006 have not been finalized, but area hunters can expect Earn-A-Buck restrictions in the future within the Disease Eradication and Herd Reduction Zones. Preliminary data on the 2005 harvest reveal more than a 70 percent increase in the buck harvest in Lafayette County over last year, while the doe harvest was down by more than a third from 2004.

Quality Deer Management practices are catching on as support for DNR policies regarding the CWD wanes. More individuals are making both formal and informal arrangements to control the size and composition of the deer herd within their areas.

The loss of thousands of acres of private land open to the public poses another long term trend that does not bode well for the future of hunting in Wisconsin. The Tigerton Lumber Company in northeast Wisconsin has removed 11,000 acres from the Managed Forest Law program, land that was previously open for public hunting.

While some will continue to hunt Tigerton property under new leasing arrangements, many hunters -- some who have hunted there for decades -- will have to search for new areas to hunt. Tigerton owns additional acreage totaling more than 40,000 acres.

This trend has the potential to increase conflict among users of other resources in Wisconsin. Legislative efforts to open state parks to increased hunting opportunities have met with resistance from some groups who believe hunting is incompatible with other recreational uses.

These trends will create increased challenges for both government officials who must manage Wisconsin's vast outdoor resources and those who find great enjoyment in exploring their immense natural beauty.