Interesting study on CWD

[fwagner]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/spor...n-diseased-animals-wisconsin-study/378642002/

 

[BrentD]

Ominous. Not looking good for Iowa either. It's a comin'

 

[fwagner]

I'm originally from south east Iowa, south western Wisconsin now and I agree it won't be long unfortunately.

 

[BrentD]

Thinking about moving your way soon.

 

[fwagner]

We have lots of monster bucks and a lot of cwd!

 

[BrentD]

I'm a baby killer when it comes to deer, but I keep hoping... What have you got for upland birds?

 

[fwagner]

Grouse are decent up north.... the state stocks certain places with pheasants. Hunt the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, the state puts 3000 birds there over that season. There are wild birds but not enough to reasonably hunt without having a negative impact. I hunt the reserve a ton, my lab doesn't know they aren't wild birds!

 

[COEngineer]

The sample size does not seem big enough to me either. Glad they are continuing the research and planning to double the number of deer in the study.

 

[88man]

scary stuff.

 

[ErictheRed]

Has anyone seen modeling that shows if a deer heard actually goes extinct given time? I wonder what the birth rate needs to be to off set the mortality rate of CWD and if it's possible. In other words, all things equal, will the Wisconsin heard go extinct and given time, all deer, elk and moose?

 

[Hunting Wife]

Has anyone seen modeling that shows if a deer heard actually goes extinct given time? I wonder what the birth rate needs to be to off set the mortality rate of CWD and if it's possible. In other words, all things equal, will the Wisconsin heard go extinct and given time, all deer, elk and moose?

Yes. There have been several different modeling studies on mule deer, elk and white tails that suggest the study populations will not persist given the current trends of increased mortality due to CWD. I’ve posted links to some of these in other threads, but I don’t have them at my fingertips at the moment. The number of studies reaching similar conclusions appears to be rising.

 

[BrentD]

Then CWD mortality is largely additive? I'm surprised. It has existed in Wyoming since at least the 60s and yet there are decent herds out there. I think extinction is probably unlikely, but I cannot say I have done the requisite math.

 

[3855WIN]

The increasing number of predators won't help.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Hard to fathom that captive cervid farms and high fence operations are still legal in light of the fact that they’re such likely vectors of dispersal for the disease. This stuff is frightening.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Then CWD mortality is largely additive? I'm surprised. It has existed in Wyoming since at least the 60s and yet there are decent herds out there. I think extinction is probably unlikely, but I cannot say I have done the requisite math.

Declines have been documented in more than one Wyoming herd if I remember correctly. Here’s one from Wyoming...I think I may have posted this one previously in another thread, so apologies if folks have seen it already.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186512

Less modeling in this one, but still not an optimistic conclusion.

 

[ScottP]

The sample size does not seem big enough to me either. Glad they are continuing the research and planning to double the number of deer in the study.

tough to build up a large sample size when you have to use a drop net or clover traps. Not like out west in more open country where you can get 20+ collars out per day using a helicopter and a net gun.

 

[BrentD]

Hard to fathom that captive cervid farms and high fence operations are still legal in light of the fact that they’re such likely vectors of dispersal for the disease. This stuff is frightening.

I don't know if Wisconsin has stopped the use of deer feeders or not, but that is another issue that has been associated with spreading the disease.

 

[O C Hunter]

I think CJD in humans occurs naturally in about 1 per million. It used to be much more prevalent in one group of humans, however. It climbed to about 50% of the population amongst cannibals. I guess they were eating undercooked brains!

 

[shootbrownelk]

Wisconsin still allows captive "Game Farms" to import deer from CWD infected States? How stupid is that? The high fence game farms are where CWD originated and where it thrives.

 

[kansasdad]

I think CJD in humans occurs naturally in about 1 per million. It used to be much more prevalent in one group of humans, however. It climbed to about 50% of the population amongst cannibals. I guess they were eating undercooked brains!

The CDC guidelines for processing and sterilization of surgical instruments used on suspected or confirmed CJD cases is way more chemical cleaning and heat than any cannibal would use in preparing a meal.

Years ago I heard that one hospital in Wichita instead of doing the proscribed process/sterilization steps wrapped up the instruments and almost treated the surgery contents as if it was nuclear waste........never to be used again, and literally buried in a deep bunker.