On guard for deer disease

Chronic wasting disease just in West,  but . . . 

By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist

Out West, there is a highly communicable, always fatal disease that is, as of now, affecting a small percentage of deer and elk. But it has the potential to move eastward, where it could be devastating to our deer population. 

Chronic wasting, a debilitating disease that causes severe loss of appetite, lack of coordination, pneumonia and death in deer and elk, is so far found only in the states of Colorado,  Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska and a couple of provinces in western Canada. It is believed to be spread initially by captive animals in petting zoos, deer farms or other places where they are in high concentrations. Chronic wasting disease gets into the wild when free-roaming deer and elk come into contact with captured animals in places like fence rows. The transmission is by bodily fluids, such as saliva or urine. 

Unlike hoof-and-mouth disease, which is also highly contagious but caused by a virus that can be controlled, chronic wasting disease is not caused by what we consider a living organism, but rather a protein — spongiform encephalopathy, which is similar to the protein that causes mad cow disease. 

As such, it is almost impossible to destroy;  few disinfectants harm it, and even, if the protein is cooked at 680 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour — literally grilling it with char-coal — it will not be destroyed. . 

Monitoring programs in Colorado and Wyoming have found 5 percent of wild deer suffer from chronic wasting, only 1 percent of elk. So far, there have been no confirmed cases in New York or the Northeast, but Department of Environmental Conservation Chief Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone is very concerned that the potential for a disaster here exists, especially considering the very high deer densities downstate compared to out West. 

Stone says, "I believe that unless there are radical changes in the way we do things,  chronic wasting disease will eventually get here. 

In the West, it’s spreading,  but the agencies responsible out are not getting a lot of help, maybe because the disease affects deer,  not cows and sheep like hoof-and-mouth disease,  where the agricultural people are also involved." Western States Fish and Wildlife Departments are encouraging hunters to take precautions. The Colorado Department of Health recommends that hunters wear rubber gloves when field dressing, bone out the carcass, avoid handling the brain, lymph and spinal tissues, the latter being where the much-sought-after chops come from. 

Chronic wasting can jump to deer from elk, but can that transfer also go to humans? Stone says he has not heard of such a transmission, but a recent study by the National Institutes of Health in Maryland reports Byron Caughey of that organization did transfer infected animal brain matter to human brain materials. 

Stone sees a couple avenues where chronic wasting disease could infiltrate the Northeast. "Big-game hunters who go out West and bring home the meat and head for mounting could conceivably bring an animal that had chronic wasting." In Colorado, elk and deer are checked the only way possible: testing the dead animal’s brain. "But," Stone says, "they are not checking all animals." Another path for the disease to move eastward is through live animals purchased for game farms, petting zoos or food. Stone points to the increasing popularity of raising elk in Vermont, elk that are set free in large pens for so-called "sport hunts." "Who checks these animals?" Stone asks. 

"You can’t positively check them until they are dead." In southern Saskatchewan in 1989, an elk farmer purchased an animal from the U. S. 

In 1996, that animal, then sick, was diagnosed with chronic wasting disease and destroyed, but the herd was not destroyed, and some have been dispersed to other elk ranch operations. 

What can be done to protect the New York deer herd from this disease? Stone wants tighter regulations for deer farms, petting zoos or other areas where there are high concentrations of deer and more monitoring and testing of animals in these places that die from reasons other than butchering for food. 

"We are not moving fast enough," Stone says. "We need more (state)people out in the field to check on reported cases or sick deer." If, and that’s a big if, chronic wasting disease gets to our neck of the woods, it will not simply be a New York matter, as all neighboring states will be hit, in particular those states with high deer densities such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

"It is not one state’s problem or job;" Stone concludes, "a regional effort is needed. If infected deer are in Pennsylvania, the disease will surely get to New York."