More News about CWD in NY

[RTF]

Looks like the hunt will begin with about 800 or so wild deer killed in a 10 mile square area of the two farms about 400 deer per farm. Also not sure if any of you know this. But The DEC has killed thousands of deer in NY since 2002 to test for CWD. Maybe there is a reason why deer population is way down in certain areas and the DEC forgot to mention why at our winter meetings.

Any how I have attached some articles for you guys.

By Paul Ertelt

Ottaway News Service

[email protected]

Albany – The state Department of Environmental Conservation plans to begin hunting wild deer next week in Oneida County to determine whether any have been infected with chronic wasting disease.

Officials last week confirmed that two farm-raised deer in the county had tested positive for the disease, which has devastated deer herds in the West and prompted a ban on feeding wild deer in New York.

DEC staff plan to kill about 400 deer within a 10-mile radius of each farm to retrieve samples of brain and organ tissue for testing.

"The deer have to be killed in order to conduct those tests," said DEC spokesman Mike Fraser.

Last week, state officials confirmed the New York's first case of CWD in a 6-year-old doe owned by John Palmer in the Town of Westmoreland, just south of Rome. A couple days later, they confirmed a second case in a 4- or 5-year-old deer in a herd owned by Martin Proper, also in Westmoreland.

The source of the infected deer had not been determined as of yesterday. On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Agriculture staff destroyed the 18 remaining deer in the Palmer herd and two other deer owned by Proper.

The deer will be tested at the state Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University. Results are expected in two weeks.

The DEC hunt will be conducted mostly on private land, so the agency needs time to contact landowners in the area, Fraser said.

Since 2002, when the disease was found in Wisconsin, the DEC has been conducting a statewide sampling program to monitor for CWD in wild deer. Nearly 3,500 wild deer have been killed and tested, but none was infected with the disease, Fraser said.

CWD is a fatal disease that affects the brains and nervous system of deer and elk, but there is no evidence linking it to disease in humans or livestock.

"There is no public health threat connected with this," Fraser said.

Prior to the discovery of the infected deer, venison from the Palmer herd had been recently served at a sportsmen's banquet in Oneida County.

First published: Wednesday, April 6, 2005

ALBANY -- State environmental officials will begin killing 420 wild deer in Oneida County next week in an effort to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease. The disease has been found in two farm-raised deer there, one of which was unwittingly eaten at a recent firehouse benefit dinner.

State Department of Environmental Conservation personnel will shoot the wild deer to collect brain tissue, so the agency can determine whether chronic wasting disease has spread from captive deer to the wild herd. The hunt will last several weeks, said Gerald Barnhart, director of DEC's Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources Division.

"If we can effectively collect that many deer, we will be able to determine whether the disease is present with a high level of confidence," said Barnhart.

The state also revealed that the deer were raised in the town of Westmoreland, south of Rome. The first deer found with the disease was part of a captive herd owned by John Palmer; the second was owned by Martin Proper.

All the deer from those farms were killed Tuesday. Tests on them will be complete within two weeks.

Neither farm owner was available for comment.

Meat from Palmer's deer was served to up to 300 people at an annual benefit dinner for an Oneida County fire department, local officials said Tuesday. The venison from the six-year-old, white-tailed doe was prepared as steaks, burgers and stews at the Verona Fire Department's Sportsmen's Feast on March 13, about two weeks before testing on the animal was complete.

Health officials continue to say there is no known link between chronic wasting disease, an ailment that kills deer and elk, and human health problems.

Although the federal Centers for Disease Control suggests that there is a remote possibility that chronic wasting disease could migrate between species, officials in New York downplay that concern.

"This disease has been in the food chain for decades, but there have been known no cases among humans," state Department of Health spokesman William Van Slyke said Tuesday.

Officials are urging anyone who ate the venison at the Verona feast to call the state Health Department in order to give them accurate information, not because of any lingering health concerns.

About 20 who attended the banquet had called the Oneida County Health Department as of Tuesday morning, said spokesman Ken Fanelli. "We assure them there shouldn't be any undue alarm or apprehension about eating the diseased meat," Fanelli said.

Chronic wasting disease has been detected in wild and farm-raised deer and elk populations in 12 states.

Scientists don't know how the disease, a neurological ailment that is usually fatal, is transmitted among animals. Symptoms in deer and elk include weight loss, stumbling, tremors, lack of coordination and listlessness.

Officials are primarily concerned with protecting the health of deer in the wild. They're still trying to determine how the disease got to New York, but they already know it spread between the herds owned by Palmer and Proper. Proper had received deer from Palmer, according to state Department of Agriculture and Markets spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden.

Proper's deer died of an undetermined respiratory ailment on his farm last month, Chittenden said, before the news broke about chronic wasting disease. Proper contacted the state, which sent samples away for testing. This weekend, those test results came back positive for the wasting disease.

Deer on at least four other farms also had direct contact with deer from Palmer. Those animals are now quarantined. "They are all in captive herds that have adequate fencing and are contained separate from wild deer," said Chittenden.

To figure out if local wild deer have chronic wasting disease, next week's hunt will focus on an area of roughly 10 miles around the farms.

The hunt should not be viewed as a massive depopulation, said Barnhart; 420 deer would be roughly half the number killed in that area during last year's hunting season.

Nonetheless, the hunt is likely to invite criticism from animal rights groups, who have protested similar state hunts in Wisconsin and Colorado.

The DEC is reaching out to local landowners for permission to hunt on their land. Officials do not anticipate they will need anyone other than their own personnel during the hunt.

April 6, 2005

VERONA, N.Y. - A white-tailed deer recently diagnosed with chronic wasting disease was eaten by as many as 350 people at a sportsmen's dinner last month, a health department official said.

Oneida County officials did not discover that the animal was infected with the neurological illness until about two weeks after the Verona Fire Department's Annual Sportsmen's Feast on March 13. The venison was served as steak, chili, stew, sausage and meat patties.

After the animal was slaughtered, the head was sent for required testing to state labs, where the disease was diagnosed.

Ken Fanelli, spokesman for the Oneida County Health Department, said the deer "showed no sign of sickness" when it was donated. He said people who ate the venison do not need to worry about contracting the disease, but urged them to contact state or local health officials. "There's no indication whatsoever that the disease has been linked to human illness of any kind," Fanelli said.

The disease was first discovered in New York last week in two white-tailed deer that had been part of captive herds in Oneida County, east of Syracuse. The second positive case was discovered in a small herd that had taken in animals from the herd that yielded the initial confirmed case, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The owners were John Palmer and Martin Proper, both of Westmoreland, and the agency asked anyone who exchanged live animals or venison with them to call the Division of Animal Industry.

The agency said deer from both herds will be destroyed and tested. Six other herds that may have come into contact with the diseased herds are in quarantine.

The Department of Environmental Conservation will also begin testing wild deer, a spokesman said.

Chronic wasting disease is a degenerative neurological illness that is deadly to some deer and elk species. The condition has been detected in wild and captive deer and elk populations in 12 states in the West and Midwest. Symptoms include weight loss, stumbling, tremors, lack of coordination and listlessness.

But while health officials insist consumption of sickened deer poses no risk to people, some area hunters said they were troubled by the discovery.

"It's like the 'mad cow' disease of deer," said Jim Edic, a hunter from Westmoreland, who did not attend the banquet in Verona. "It's kind of scary."

It concerns me, but it's been out West for quite a few years."The state agencies will hold a public meeting on Friday night to detail their response efforts.

ALBANY, N.Y. A hunters' organization wants the state to immediately quarantine all deer farms and hunting preserves to ensure that chronic wasting disease doesn't spread to New York's wild deer herd.

The New York State Conservation Council represents 12-hundred clubs and more than 300-thousand hunters, anglers and conservationists. The group wants the Department of Agriculture and Markets to close off all of the 400 deer farms in the state, along with all hunting preserves.

The call comes after two captive deer in Oneida County tested positive last week for chronic wasting disease, the neurological disease that's fatal to the animals.

The hunters' group is concerned that the disease will spread to New York state's one (m) million white-tailed deer.

The D-E-C has already quarantined seven deer farms, including the one where the first afflicted deer was found recently.

[western NY bowhunter]

Re: More News about CWD in NY

[ QUOTE ]

The DEC has killed thousands of deer in NY since 2002 to test for CWD

[/ QUOTE ]

RTF:

The DEC is NOT killing these deer. I have taken two courses at SUNY Cobleskill that were taught by the state's top wildlife pathologist...and am pretty familiar with the state's CWD testing techniques. The deer that have been submitted for testing have come from roadkills, nuisance permits deer and from deer heads taken from butchershops around the state. The DEC isn't out there driving around and randomly killing deer at their leisure.

[longislandhunter]

Re: More News about CWD in NY

I hate to see several hundred deer killed but at least it appears the DEC is taking fast and decisive action to get a good handle on this problem, and if sacrificing a couple hundred deer will help save the rest of the states deer herd then I'm all for it. I personally don't think the DEC would intentionally keep news of a CWD epidemic in the state hidden, I don't think they would be that foolish or irresponsible. Then again, one never really knows I guess. In the meantime I will just assume they are acting in the best interest of the the deer, and sportsman, and doing what they can to control this situation.

[RTF]

Re: More News about CWD in NY

Then what does this mean and who is this Fraser guy ?

[ QUOTE ]

Since 2002, when the disease was found in Wisconsin, the DEC has been conducting a statewide sampling program to monitor for CWD in wild deer. Nearly 3,500 wild deer have been killed and tested, but none was infected with the disease, Fraser said.

[/ QUOTE ]

[western NY bowhunter]

Re: More News about CWD in NY

I don't know who he is. But...the guy who I took classes from is THE head honcho in the state for this kind of stuff and he talked about the state's CWD monitoring alot. I also know two guys from college who were in my major that worked for the state pathology lab and part of their job was to drive around the state cutting the heads off of fresh looking roadkills and picking up deer heads that were donated by butcher shops. I think that Mr. Fraser was implying that 3,500 dead deer have been tested. I don't believe that he was saying that these deer were killed by state officials for the sole purpose of testing them.