State steps up efforts to slow chronic wasting disease in deer4
HARRISBURG – State hunting regulators are stepping up surveillance efforts and restricting the import of parts of deer killed in other states to stop the spread of a fatal deer disease which could deeply hurt Pennsylvania’s economy. Officials from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Department of Agriculture said they are concerned about incidents of chronic wasting disease appearing for the first time this year in neighboring West Virginia and New York, which brings the disease closer to home than ever before.
Chronic wasting disease has been spreading east since 2002, but has not yet been detected in Pennsylvania animals. It is caused by defective, self-propagating proteins, which attack an animal’s nervous system causing severe weight loss, increased drinking, and abnormal behavior, leading to death. Elk and moose, also members of the cervid family, are also at risk.
The disease is closely related to the human form of Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease – otherwise known as Mad Cow Disease – but there are no known incidents of animals transferring chronic wasting disease to humans.
Still, as a precaution, health officials recommend against consuming any part of an animal that tests positive for the disease.
Of more immediate concern to state officials, is the possibility that chronic wasting disease could cross state borders and infect Pennsylvania’s deer and elk herds. Hunting is a $4.8 billion industry in the state and hunters number one million.
“This disease has the potential to have a significant negative impact on our natural wildlife community for hunters and wildlife viewers, as well as the state’s deer and elk farming industry,” said Vernon Ross, executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Ross spoke at a joint meeting with the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee and Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Monday.
Ross said the commission has been collecting samples from harvested elk since 2001, and has expanded surveillance this coming season to test all harvested elk and 4,000 Pennsylvania deer from all over the state. Officials will collect tissue samples at meat processing plants and from road-kill.
The state has budgeted $400,000 this year to stave off chronic wasting disease, according to Ross. In comparison, Wisconsin, which had its first case in 2002, is spending $5 million this year to protect an industry that brings in less than one-quarter the income of Pennsylvania’s.
The commission is also restricting the transport into Pennsylvania of any deer from states quarantined for chronic wasting disease, including Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Pennsylvania hunters may only bring in de-boned meat, hides, and cleaned skullcaps with antlers from those states, but not trophy heads. Violations bring a maximum $10,000 fine.
Hampshire County, West Virginia – 35 miles south of Bedford County, Pennsylvania – was added to the restricted list this month after four deer there tested positive for the disease in September. The restrictions do not apply to New York deer, since that state has implemented its own ban on removing deer from the area where the disease erupted.
Pennsylvania is also testing about 25 percent of captive herds, and all animals more than 6 months old that die on a deer or elk farm.
“We knew Pennsylvania at some point would have to deal with the situation,” said Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff. “It’s just much closer than we anticipated.”
Officials are also asking hunters to stay vigilant and report animals with symptoms of the disease. But officials acknowledged that infected animals can be hard to detect early, since symptoms often don’t start appearing until the disease has incubated for 20 to 30 months.
The disease is highly contagious, according to officials. Animals can transmit it by grazing or drinking out of streams after one another, and disposal of infected animals must be done by cremation since the disease can reappear from the ground above a buried, infected animal.
Wolff said if an incident did occur in Pennsylvania, the plan would be to create a five-mile containment area and bring herd numbers down to five deer per square mile. That’s about one-third the average deer density.
Pennsylvania has not joined with an association of northeastern states attempting to eradicate the disease because the group wanted to ban deer and elk farms, according to Ross. Pennsylvania has a fairly large industry of more than 800 such farms, which sell meat or are open to hunting.
York Republican Sen. Michael Waugh, chair of the Senate agriculture committee, said he was concerned about cooperation between hunters and state officials over testing. Waugh said some hunters count on their kill as food for the winter, and should be compensated for their loss if their animal tests disease positive.
Ross said the state has no such program in place, although he predicted hunters would gladly hand back contaminated meat. There is no requirement, however, that they do so, Ross said.
Random samples will be taken from meat processing plants, and owners would be notified later if their animals test positive, he said.
Eager to safeguard the industry, the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs executive director Melody Zullinger urged extensive educational outreach of hunters, meat processors, and taxidermists.
“We want them to be as educated as they can be so they don’t have to fear going out into the woods and hunting,” she said.
Zullinger said chronic wasting disease is another reason to computerize hunting licenses at the point of sale, instead of keeping archaic paper records. Hunters could then be notified if an outbreak occurs in the area in which they hunt, she said.
For similar reasons, she urged lawmakers to revisit the idea of forming an interstate wildlife compact, which would create a database to track hunting violations among states and potentially serve as a way to notify hunters about chronic wasting disease incidents.
The House passed such a bill last session but it died in the Senate, she said.
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or begin ahawkes@calkins-media.com ahawkes@calkins-media.com end
Hunting precautions
Do not shoot, handle, or consume an animal that appear sick, and contact the state wildlife agency. Pennsylvania’s Southwest Regional Office is (724) 238-9523.
Wear rubber or latex gloves when field-dressing carcasses.
Bone out the meat from your animal.
Minimize handling of brain and spinal tissues.
Request that your meat be processed individually, not with other animals.
Don’t consume brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, lymph nodes, or tonsils.
Don’t consume meat that tests positive.
Source: Pennsylvania Game Commission