New CWD info.

[Tom]

Its in West Virginia, no private deer, no baiting. You think maybe this is a disease that occurs naturally in the wild?

http://www.wvdnr.gov/2005news/05news167.shtm

I'm sorry they've got it, but doesn't it offer some compelling info. showing up there? How would it get there, I hope they give an explanation? Maybe they'll find more data there and figure it out, maybe not?

 

[Tom]

There's more now, and its close to other states.

September 24, 2005 Gazette in West Virginia
More deer test positive for CWD

Find called ‘disappointing, not surprising’


By John McCoy
Staff writer

More West Virginia deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

Brain-tissue samples from three animals, killed last week by wildlife-agency sampling teams, registered “suspect positive” results under tests performed by the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

If confirmed by a follow-up test, the results would indicate that the disease’s recently discovered presence in Hampshire County wasn’t an isolated case.

Paul Johansen, assistant wildlife chief for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, called the test results “disappointing, but not surprising.”

“This seems to indicate that the road-killed deer that tested positive for CWD was no fluke,” Johansen said. “Obviously, we’ll know for sure when the definitive test results come back next week, but I think it’s safe to say this confirms [that] we have the disease in our [free-ranging] deer population.”

The three positive tests showed up among the first 45 tissue samples sent off for analysis — a 7 percent rate. Johansen said, though, it was “much too early” to assume that 7 percent of the area’s deer are infected with CWD.

“The sample size is way too small,” he explained.

All of the 45 deer tested to date came from within a 5-mile radius of Slanesville, a rural town in north-central Hampshire County. Johansen added, however, that the three that tested positive came from different herds and were killed on different landowners’ properties.

“It’s obvious, at this point, that we need to increase our sample size. As of this morning, we’ve collected a total of 121 deer. Next week, we’ll reassemble our sampling teams and send them out to shoot more.”

He said local landowners “have been extremely cooperative” in allowing DNR crews access to private property. “It’s obvious that [the landowners] are very concerned about this, too,” he added.

DNR officials also plan to enlist hunters’ help to increase the size and scope of the investigation.

“We’re very likely to include hunter-harvested animals in our surveillance effort,” Johansen said. “That’ll probably include deer taken in Hampshire County during the archery and firearm seasons.”

Because the CWD-affected area lies within 9 miles of the Virginia border, 11 miles of the Maryland border and 24 miles of the Pennsylvania border, wildlife officials in those states have been keeping a close eye on the West Virginia DNR’s sampling efforts. Johansen said the latest positive findings already have been relayed to agency heads in all three border states.

“We’re committed to keeping other state agencies informed, just as we’re keeping West Virginians informed,” he said.

Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disorder found in white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk. Scientists suspect that infectious proteins, known as prions, slowly attack the brains of infected animals, causing them to behave strangely, become emaciated and die.

While there is no known treatment for CWD, there is no evidence to suggest that it can be transmitted to humans or to domestic livestock.

More information on CWD can be found at the DNR’s Web site: www.wvdnr.org

dnr.gov; and on the CWD Alliance Web site: www.cwd-info.org.

To contact staff writer John McCoy, use e-mail or call 348-1231.