[birdman]

3 Decatur County Deer Confirmed Positive For CWD

CWD contingency plan includes further sampling

PRATT--
Three white-tailed deer taken by hunters in Decatur County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), according to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Dr. Ruby Mosher, KDWP's wildlife disease coordinator, said the initial screening tests performed by Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have been confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

All three deer were taken by hunters along Sappa Creek in central Decatur County, north of Oberlin, which is in the northwest corner of the state. Testing is still to be completed on approximately two-thirds of the samples collected by KDWP for testing. The samples from northwestern Kansas are given priority since they are from deer that have a higher known risk of being exposed to CWD than those in the rest of the state. As results are returned over the next 6 to 8 weeks, regular updates will be posted on the KDWP website Chronic Wasting Disease / Big Game / Hunting / KDWP - KDWP

CWD has been detected twice previously in Kansas. The first case was in 2001 in a captive elk herd in Harper County. The other occurred during the 2005 hunting season in a wild whitetail doe harvested in Cheyenne County. Last month, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reported a CWD-positive deer from an area just a few miles north of Decatur County, in Red Willow County, Nebraska.

Wildlife biologists from Kansas and Nebraska plan to sample more deer in the vicinity in February to help determine the prevalence of the disease in the area. Tissue samples from more than 2,200 deer taken by hunters during the most recent Kansas hunting season have been submitted for lab analysis. The three affected deer from Decatur County were among those samples, and the hunters who shot those deer have been notified. KDWP biologists have conducted annual sampling of hunter-harvested and road-killed deer since 1996.

Although research is underway, there is currently no vaccine or other biological method of preventing CWD. The only tool is to prevent the spread of CWD to new areas, because once the infective particle (an abnormal prion) is deposited into the environment -- either through an infected carcass or from a live animal -- it may exist for a decade or more, capable of infecting a healthy deer.

Despite the recent occurrences, the likelihood of finding CWD in a wild deer harvested in Kansas is small. That small likelihood decreases even more the farther from northwestern Kansas the deer lived. In recent years, numerous cases of CWD have been documented in neighboring areas of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming. While CWD is fatal to infected deer and elk, humans have never been known to contract the disease. CWD is a member of the group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).

Other diseases in this group include scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) in cattle, and Cruetzfeldt-Jacob disease in people. CWD is a progressive, fatal disease that results in small holes developing in the brain, giving it a sponge-like appearance under the microscope. Decreased brain function causes the animal to display neurological symptoms such as depression, droopy head, staggering, loss of appetite, and a lack of response to man. The continuing deterioration of the brain leads to other symptoms such as weight loss, drooling, and excessive thirst.

Caution is advised because of unknown factors associated with prion diseases, but no human health risks have been discovered where CWD occurs. The symptoms of CWD include loss of body weight, stumbling, holding the head at an odd angle, circling, non-responsiveness to people, and pneumonia. Any sick deer or elk should be reported it to the nearest KDWP office or the Emporia Research Office, 620-342-0658.

Hunters can help protect the health of the Kansas deer herd by taking the following steps to avoid accidentally introducing CWD to a new area in Kansas:

· do not transport deer carcasses far from the area where the deer lived, especially from areas where CWD has been detected, such as northwestern Kansas; and

· if a carcass is transported, the hunter should make sure that carcass waste is not dumped into the environment where local deer or elk can come into contact with it. Carcass waste can be disposed of by double-bagging it and taking it to a landfill.

[oucorry]

Man that is a scary deal. CWD is not something to take lightly.

[DrakeHunter]

The biggest problem, other than no cure is that it affects the male gender more than female. This means more bucks will die from the disease than does will. This causing the buck to doe ratio to be lower than it already is.

[walleye4]

Have you ever seen a deer up close that has CWD? You can really tell that something is wrong with it. I watched a guy shoot a buck 8 years ago that was acting funny and he ended up having CWD. The G&P wouldn't even let him keep the horns. What a waste for a nice 6X6 buck!

[birdman]

I've never seen one up close, but have heard the same thing as what you're describing eye4. I think it probably depends on how far along the disorder is in regards to animal disposition.

Drake, I think you might want to check your facts on occurence in Bucks vs. Does. CWD in game species or Mad cow in cattle is basically the same. It is a communicable disorder that is passed from animal to animal by prions. These prions are secreted by the animals via saliva, feces, mucous, and I believe can be passed through birthing. The prions are extremely viable and once deposited/transfered (onto grass, trees, around water, or direct animal to animal contact), they survive quite some time. If grass is consumed containing these prions, then that animal is infected. Due to the nature of how it is spread, it is "non-selective" of it's host environment and has equal odds of infecting either sex.

[D Winkler]

The bad thing about Kansas is that you don't have to check your deer. You could have a deer with CWD and never know it. We took our deer to the butcher this year and he said he works with fish and game to detect CWD. Ours didn't have it but he said that they would send us a bunch of info and forms to fill out if our deer did end up having it.

[oucorry]

Man, I didn't know Kansas didn't have to check in their deer. That is a little scary, and you wouldn't even know they had it

[shortbus]

it's scary indeed.

I've never seen a deer or any other game animal with CWD, but I've seen video of cattle with the disease.

There have been no cases of the disease crossing over to the human species though, correct?

It's scary to think you might eat an animal with CWD or even come into contact with one for that matter.

[D Winkler]

Two years ago they made us check deer that were shot in far west Kansas but only for that year.

[D Winkler]

P.S.

I'm scared too