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CWD in Missouri!!!

This is the offical memo to all the veterinarians in MO followed by the official press release.​


MEMORANDUM​



TO: State Veterinarians

FROM: Dr. Taylor Woods

DATE: February 25, 2010

SUBJECT: CWD Positive Captive Deer in Northeast Missouri



The Missouri Department of Agriculture, received confirmation from NVSL that a captive whitetail deer in Northeast Missouri has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Upon receiving this confirmation Missouri Department of Agriculture placed all farms associated with this ranch under quarantine until a full epidemiology report can be gathered.

A press release is attached. If you have any further questions, please contact Dr. Woods at 573-751-3377.



Chronic Wasting Disease Found in Captive Deer​


(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County, Missouri has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.

“There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. “We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations.”

The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the State’s CWD surveillance and testing program. Preliminary tests were conducted by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri’s departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.

CWD is transmitted by live animal to animal contact or soil to animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.

“Missouri’s proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago is proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow pre-established steps to ensure Missouri’s valuable whitetail deer resource remains healthy and strong,” said Jason Sumners Missouri’s Deer Biologist.

For more information regarding CWD, please contact Dr. Taylor Woods at (573) 751-3377.


Linn County MO is a couple of counties south of Iowa and to me more central than NE.

Remember, this is a CAPTIVE herd and we all know that fences always hold in or hold out their intended species. And we also know that all deer breeding ranches or high fence outfitters keep uber accurate records of where their deer were either shipped to or received from.

OK, that was a little facetious . There is an Association here in Iowa of deer breeders that I am not familiar with but I hope that their rules require extensive testing and record keeping.

Another thing I do not know is what Iowa laws are regarding deer farms but you can bet I’ll be lookin it up.

The 'Bonker
 
Fishbonker said:


Remember, this is a CAPTIVE herd and we all know that fences always hold in or hold out their intended species.
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From other incidents involving CWD in captive herds, there have been suggestions that the perimeter of such farms should be double fenced (two fences spaced apart from each other) to prevent physical contact between penned and wild deer.
 
MK M GOBL said:
As soon as they start doing extensive testing. At this point, the best thing that could happen would be for it to be found in every state.
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I think Iowa does very extensive testing.

http://www.iowadnr.gov/news/09dec/cwd.html

I have heard the only states to do more testing are Wisconsin, Illinois and New York but I haven't been able to find any facts to support this. Having said that, for a state that hasn't had a confirmed case of CWD yet we test more than most states that do have CWD.

Could you elaborate on why finding it in every state would be the best thing? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.


The 'Bonker
 
Well guys, I've watched with interest the past few topics concerning CWD and wasn't going to say anything since I'm not from Iowa. So take this for what it's worth. It's free.

We've had CWD in Nebraska longer than most the other states that now report having it and our deer herd has not decreased, in fact it continues to grow at a pace that is now getting the insurance companies to put pressure on the Game and Parks to drastically reduce our herd population.
CWD should not be treated or thought of with a "The sky is falling" mind set. There are other ailments that deer can acquire that kill far greater numbers.
Wisconsin's attempt to eradicate all the deer in their hot zones killed more deer that the disease has in my opinion.
When it is confirmed in your state, take proper and calm measures that make sense. Get rid of captive, infected herds, burn the ground, and don't let animals inside the enclosures again. Set up check stations for random checking across the state and things will work out.
Sound, sane procedures are much better than panic mode attacks.
 
Fishbonker said:
Could you elaborate on why finding it in every state would be the best thing? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.


The 'Bonker
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Gona play left hand here bonker. I'm a little bitter with the wanting to ban mineral sites, for these facts. I am no biologist, nor have I ever claimed to be, but I visually scout 6-7 days a week in the summer months to try and take inventory of what deer I have that I could possibly be hunting come fall, try and pattern them, ect.... I run alot of trail cams on mineral sites, but I also have mineral sites that I do not run camera's on. I am not upset that I would have to quite putting a cam on a mineral site, I get more pics on trails than I do those anyways, but I bothers me that I can not use the mineral. I know the high and almighty QDM has no proof of the minerals that I dump out promote antler growth, but I can tell you for a fact from what I have seen our deer herd that we hunt do when we starting pumping the mineral to them.

We started seeing bigger, healthier body weights going into fall, we started seeing larger fawn sizes, alot of 6-7 month old spikes. We started seeing a jump in antler size. We started seeing less deer run down in the months of January and February when food is least available all year. Just these alone I will give credit to the mineral sites that we have. I'm not talking about throwin a block out, I'm talking about pouring 100lbs of loose at a time, 4-6 times a year at each site. So yes, it bugs me a little when they are going to take a tool away from me, to which I credit a better, healthier herd in which I hunt.

As far as interaction, of all my pictures and scouting sits with the bino's, I've never seen a deer walk from a long distance to go to my mineral site. All that is there, are the local herd, which interact daily in the soybean field, corn field, bed in the same area, use same travel routes, hit the same scrapes, and feed from the same alfalfa field. So, is banning mineral going to keep CWD from spreading in the herd that I hunt, although they interact daily away from the site? I you can convince me of this, I will accept it and go on, but for now, I have been emailing everyone on the list that Iowa Whitetails forever and the IBA emails me. I am fighting for something I believe in.

Next, I can show you some pretty impressive mineral sites that are in cattle pastures, that deer use on a regular basis, with the cattle. Is the DNR going to ban farmers from using salt and mineral blocks in their pastures? People talk about putting them in some kind of confinement, such as a mineral feeder for cattle. I've seen tons of deer use them once they figure out what they are, and they do figure it out. So whats next, ban mineral in the state of Iowa all together?

I hope CWD is never found in the state of Iowa. I can just imagine what the DNR will do to prevent the "spread" of the disease. Farm Bureau will jump at it quick to desimate the deer herd to save livestock. Mineral sites will be the least of our concerns. They will want the deer herd pretty much non existant, which is excatly what they want.

As far as everyone that is on the wagon of banning the mineral, I hope you are not planting food plots, apple tree's, bedding area's, trying to make a deer haven. Deer will interact with each other, and you do any of the above, you are just promoting the spread of CWD.

I'm stepping off my podium now, been wanting to get that off my chest on how I felt about all of this.
 
Glad you feel better Nanny, I knew this was gonna be a tough sell and quite frankly I'm not gonna say anything that I haven't said already about wildlife feeding.

Now back to the thread at hand. I emailed Mr. Lichtfield, the Iowa deer biologist about their CWD sampling and here is his reply:

On an annual basis we test about 4200 wild deer which represents about 2.5% of the harvest. Close to 3000 of these samples come from 7 counties in NE Iowa (the most likely place for CWD to move naturally into Iowa). In NE Iowa we are testing at a rate so that we would have a 95% chance of detecting a 1% infection rate. The other 1200 samples are distributed among the other 92 counties, on any given year we would have a much lower chance of detecting CWD in those counties. However, with the aggregate of sampling over the years within those 92 counties, we know it was not out in our wild herds over the past few years. So someone would have to bring it into the state via an infected carcass or a game farm animal in those counties that are out of the dispersal range for infected animals. Also, all year long, any animal from anywhere in the state that may be a suspect animal is submitted for testing.


Here are a few links:


http://www.qdma.com/pdfs/WhitetailReport2010.pdf page 45 compares testing numbers state by state.


http://www.cwd-info.org/ General CWD info.


http://www.cwd-info.org/index.php/fuseaction/news.detail/ID/1875bd485642d87e661a003dbdc3f312 Wisconsin infection rate.


http://www.qdma.com/articles/details.asp?id=57 QDMA position on managing CWD. This is about 5 years old.

The 'Bonker
 
Seems to me that about every time a CWD event is found, it is associated with a deer farm. Coincidence? Should the legislative focus be shifted?
 
Fishbonker said:
Could you elaborate on why finding it in every state would be the best thing? I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
The 'Bonker
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Because then there would be no point in trying to "stop" it from spreading.


Shovelbuck said:
We've had CWD in Nebraska longer than most the other states that now report having it and our deer herd has not decreased, in fact it continues to grow
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That is exactly why I can't see any reason to be concerned about it. Some of the areas out west first detected it over 30 years ago...and I'm sure it had been there a long time before then. Their deer herds are plenty strong...I've hunted them.
 
Either they find the CWD in captive animals because that is where it starts, or it is easier to find in those penned animals that have CWD. It seems the logical thing to do is quit feeding by-products to animals since that is a known transmitter. I would like to do away with fenced in deer and other wild animals myself since it seems to be an incubator for transmitting diseases, but I am not a scientist and hopefully they are doing what is best with the facts that are known so far about the disease.
 
Reason CWD is almost always found with a deer farm is when a deer dies, they are required to submit the sample for testing...regardless....no way around it. Each animal is supposed to be accounted for each year or two whether it was sold or died.

So every animal that is in a confinement is tested at one point in time or another, sick and healthy.

Now, in the timber, how many dead deer are found each year while shed hunting, mushroom hunting, or just taking a dog for a walk. Granted some are hit by cars, gun shots, predators....but some are the very diseases that we are talking about. EHD/Blue tongue, Clostridium diseases, Respiratory disease, and very likely CWD. Those deer are not the ones that are tested, only a small fraction of the healthy ones killed are submitted and even a smaller fraction of the sick ones get tested as they are most likely left in the timber.

The disease is already here, we just have not found it yet. There is really no way it could not be if every state around our borders has had a documented case.
 
This is the exact reason that every year the DNR biolgists ask all hunters to submit tissue samples of the deer they harvest.So they can test wild deer for CWD and the other diseases.But I don't think very many people pay any attention to their requests.
 
Since 2002, DNR has analyzed almost 152,000 deer with a total of 1,172 free-ranging deer testing positive for CWD. All the positive deer were found within the CWD-MZ. Wisconsin has two separate epicenters of disease, one in the southwest part of the state, one in the southeast. The southeast CWD area is contiguous with a CWD area in northern Illinois where 256 CWD positive deer have been found since 2002.


In regards to the "bolded" text above, am I reading it correctly that in a 7 year span less than 1 percent of the 152,000 animals tested came in with positive results??? What am I missing here?
 
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