TEXAS DEER CZAR SAYS WISCONSIN DNR NOT DOING ENOUGH ABOUT CWD LIKE POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK
TEXAS DEER CZAR SAYS WISCONSIN DNR NOT DOING ENOUGH ABOUT CWD LIKE POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK
Deer czar: herd estimates are inaccurate
Thursday, March 29, 2012 8:15 a.m. CDT
Deer
UNDATED (WSAU) Wisconsin’s “deer czar” says the D-N-R spends too much time miscalculating the size of the deer herd, and not enough time dealing with habitat and people. James Kroll issued his preliminary report yesterday, after Governor Scott Walker hired him last fall to review the D-N-R’s deer management efforts. Kroll, a deer researcher from Texas, said landowners and hunters have a quote, “intense dissatisfaction” with the agency – and a lot of it stems from what he called a failed effort to control chronic wasting disease in the last decade.
Kroll said the program regarded deer in the disease zones as pests rather than a major big game animal. He also said the D-N-R’s deer herd estimates are indefensible, and they’re based on procedures that are decades old. And he said officials have not done adequate studies on wolves, and how they fit into the state’s eco-system.
D-N-R big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang said his agency has known about some of the issues in the report for a long time – and they’re already addressing them. Two years ago, officials started a $2-million effort to improve the deer population estimates, and determine the impact by predators. It has also expanded a computer list of hunter observations, and improved communications with the public. The D-N-R also ended the Earn-a-Buck program that required hunters to kill a doe before taking a buck.
Town hall meetings are being set throughout Wisconsin next month to discuss Kroll’s preliminary report. A final report is expected in June.
http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/mar/29/deer-czar-herd-estimates-are-inaccurate/
Wisconsin hired this guy from Texas to evaluate their CWD problem. I don’t know how this guy from Texas can help them, CWD has been waltzing across Texas for 10 years. seems Dr. Kroll should go back home and take care of CWD in Texas coming in from New Mexico. ...just my opinion of course. ...tss
INTERIM REPORT OF FINDINGS BY,
WISCONSIN WHITE-TAILED DEER TRUSTEE AND REVIEW COMMITTEE
MARCH, 2012
Drs. James C. Kroll (Trustee), David C. Guynn, Jr. and Gary L Alt
Presented to,
Wisconsin Department of Administration
Madison, Wisconsin
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wbay/INTERIM%20REPORT%20OF%20FINDINGS%20B1-2.pdf
We received news that James Kroll, a private-land deer manager from Texas
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/deer-news/dr-deer-james-kroll-deer-report-disappoints
At the time, Kroll — nicknamed Dr. Deer — and his university research team were the only Texans using artificial insemination (A.I.) on deer. On Kroll’s advice, Grace adopted A.I. as a way to introduce superior genetics into his herd, thus becoming one of the first commercial deer breeders in North America known to use A.I.
It would become the key to success for Mustang Creek Ranch, which today markets stocker bucks, semen, open and bred does, and breeder bucks.
http://www.farmcreditbank.com/landscapes-sum08_grace.aspx
The event was the third annual Whitetail Workshop and Intro to A.I. School, led primarily by Dr. James Kroll, director of the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research Center at Stephen F. Austin State University.
According to Bill Grace, owner of Mustang Creek Ranch and host of the workshop, the large attendance was indicative of a growing interest in deer breeding, an industry in which superior bucks often sell for six figures.
snip...
The Texas Deer Association, which was founded by Kroll, Grace and several other breeders in 1999, now has more than 2,000 members.
http://www.farmcreditbank.com/landscapes-sum08_grace.aspx
Original press release issued by Wisconsin DNR on March 28th, 2012
A Hillsboro man kicked off the Twelve Days of Christmas with two days of poaching.
From the night before Christmas to the holiday night, the 20-year-old roamed the roads shining and shooting bucks and does as they stood blindly in the light. “This guy wasn’t hunting. He was poaching,” Conservation Warden Mike Nice of Richland Center said of the suspect who is alleged to have illegally taken approximately 100 deer since 2011.
“In my 22 years as a conservation warden, I have never seen another individual come close to that total. The suspect didn’t care,” Warden Nice said of the multi-county case he investigated with Deputy Warden Mike Williams and Warden Cody Adams of Prairie du Chien.
The suspect, along with two other young adult males and one juvenile male, face criminal charges stemming from the eight poaching cases — four in Richland County and four in Vernon County — that were documented by the investigating wardens. Twenty one years revocation of hunting rights is being sought along with restitution and jail time for the Hillsboro man. Confiscation of three rifles used to shoot the deer is also being requested.
Criminal charges were filed in the counties in March. Court proceedings are expected this spring. Nice said the wardens were helped in their investigation by Richland County District Attorney Jennifer Harper, who, by sheer coincidence, herself received information from a tipster. “District Attorney Harper relayed the tip, but, just as importantly, she has done an outstanding job in prosecuting criminal DNR violations in her capacity as the district attorney,” Nice said.
Assistant District Attorney Stacy Smith will be prosecuting the charges in Vernon County. A total of four individuals are being charged in the case.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/holiday-poaching-spree-uncovers-illegal-killing-of-up-to-100-wisconsin-deer/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Outdoor%20Hub%20News&utm_content=March+29%2C+2012+Man+Fined+for+Hunting+Bigfoot
Thursday, February 09, 2012
50 GAME FARMS IN USA INFECTED WITH CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/50-game-farms-to-date-in-usa-infected.html
Friday, February 03, 2012
Wisconsin Farm-Raised Deer Farms and CWD there from 2012 report Singeltary et al
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-farm-raised-deer-farms-and.html
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-16-age-limit-on-testing-dead.html
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD WISCONSIN Almond Deer (Buckhorn Flats) Farm Update DECEMBER 2011
The CWD infection rate was nearly 80%, the highest ever in a North American captive herd.
Despite the five year premise plan and site decontamination, The WI DNR has concerns over the bioavailability of infectious prions at this site to wild white-tail deer should these fences be removed. Current research indicates that prions can persist in soil for a minimum of 3 years.
However, Georgsson et al. (2006) concluded that prions that produced scrapie disease in sheep remained bioavailable and infectious for at least 16 years in natural Icelandic environments, most likely in contaminated soil.
Additionally, the authors reported that from 1978-2004, scrapie recurred on 33 sheep farms, of which 9 recurrences occurred 14-21 years after initial culling and subsequent restocking efforts; these findings further emphasize the effect of environmental contamination on sustaining TSE infectivity and that long-term persistence of prions in soils may be substantially greater than previously thought.
snip...
SUMMARY: The Department has obtained on agreement to purchase 80 acres of land from Patricia Casey for $465,000 for the Statewide Wildlife Habitat program, In Portage County, The item is being submitted because the price exceeds the appraised value of $371,000 and because the Department will prohibit Nature-Based Outdoor Activities on the land.
The properly is located in south central Portage County about 12 miles southeast of Plover in the Town of Almond. The property, which includes a single family residence, a metal building, and a storage shed, was operated us a deer farm until 2006 at which time it was closed down because of an outbreak of chronic wasting disease (CWD). All the deer in the operation were destroyed and the operation has stood vacant for the last 5 years per U .S. Dcpnrtmeut of Agriculture requirements. During this time and until May 24, 2011, the fences around this facility must be maintained and the premise cannot be used as a deer farm, though other animals such ns cattle and horses would be permitted. After May 24, all such restrictions will expire. This site, known as the Hall Farm, had the highest prevalence of CWO positive deer recorded at any deer farm in North America.
Based on available science, the Department believes that there is an unacceptable potential risk of exposure to CWD causing prions to wild cervids in this area should the premise fencing be removed. To minimize this risk, the Department believes that the fences should remain intact and in place until science can demonstrate that there is no longer any potential risk. After extensive consideration of several options, the Department maintains that the purchase and subsequent management of the properly and fences is the only realistic option.
The Department proposes to prohibit all public use of the property in order to ensure confinement and control of contaminated soils and limit any potential spread of Chronic Wasting Disease from the property to surrounding lands and wild deer populations and to allow for research of prions and prion related diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease. The property is currently surrounded by a deer fence and removal of that fence to allow public use, or public use of any form inside the fenced area would be incompatible with the primary purpose of acquiring the properly. The Department has determined that it is necessary to prohibit all public access on the site to accommodate the Department's primary purpose for the acquisition and its Intended use of the property for research and wildlife management.
Acquisition of this properly will minimize any potential risk to local cervids from the CWD causing prions that may exist within the fenced area. The Department will consider sale of the house at a later date if local zoning can be modified for a lot size that would not contain contaminated soil. State ownership will allow the Department to maintain the deer proof fence, thereby protecting wild deer from CWD infection from the contaminated soil on this former deer farm.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board approve the purchase of 80 acres of land for $465,000 for the Statewide Wildlife Habitat Program in Portage County and approve the restrictions on public use of the site.
snip...see full text and much more here ;
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/2011/december/12-11-2b2.pdf
SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2011/12/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-wisconsin.html
UPDATE ON SOME OLD HISTORY ON CWD AND GAME FARMS AND ANIMAL ESCAPES, BEING TRADED FROM STATE TO STATE ETC. ...
Game farm rules argued pro and con in Montana
December 12, 1999
By ERIN P. BILLINGS, Gazette State Bureau
Since 1992, the state has recorded 39 animal escapes from Montana game farm operations. During the same period there were 22 cases in which native wildlife got into a game farm. Here's a look at the number of animals escaping from game farms vs. the number of wildlife getting into the farms from the outside.
1992: Six escapes of game farm animals compared with seven animals entering the pen.
1993: Six escapes compared with one animal getting in from the outside.
1994: Nine escapes compared with one animal getting in from the outside.
1995: Six escapes compared with two animals getting in.
1996: Four escapes compared with two animals getting in.
1997: Two escapes compared with two getting in.
1998: Four escapes compared with six getting in.
1999: Two escapes compared with two getting in from the outside.<
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html#ccc
seems to me it would be the game farm operation fault if i farmed deer escaped, OR if a wild deer or elk entered. but who would then own the wild deer? can't ever let him go, IF you are trying to keep CWD from the wild herds. by only testing dead deer at different ages per state, with sub-clinical CWD TSE, you never know when your farmed deer are infected. you could be selling them and or their products from state to state for years, before a game farm ever knows it's infected. by the time it's documented, it's too late. ...tss
How CWD spreads from Colorado
15 Jul 00 webmaster opinion
Fore background on CWD, see 1, 2, 3, 4
McCombie, in the article above, obtained access under Wisconsin's Freedom of Information Act to various CWD documents that since have been circulating on the internet, which the webmaster believes are authentic being plausible, consistent with previously disclosed information, and bearing signatures on official state stationery. These letters suggest that widespread traffic in elk coupled with minimal or non-existent state regulation and monitoring has the potential to spread CWD far and wide. Indeed, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma, and Saskatchawan have announced cases; South Dakota,Missouri, Vermont, and numerous others have documented trace-back or trace-forward herds.
The first document, dated 17 Apr 98, on state letterhead from Nebraska State Veterinarian Dr. Larry Williams to Dr. Clarence Siroky, Wisconsin State Veterinarian, is a routine herd trace-forward letter. It states that on 9 April 98, an elk from a "domesticated cervine herd " at Heartland Elk Ranch in Cody, Nebraska, was diagnosed positive for CWD. The letter states that on 7 Feb 98 an elk (tagged as "Blue 40") was sold to T/D's Elk Farm in Bloomer, Wisconsin.
The webmaster is not aware of any follow-up on "Blue 40" or any other animal on either recipient Wisconsin farm; these animals are not necessarily infected or a risk though the potential is there. None of the game farms mentioned here did anything improper, imprudent, or illegal -- CWD emerged as a serious concern subsequent to these animal transfers; there was no way of knowing the status of a given game farm at the time. There is no indication that anyone sold or purchased an animal known to be at risk of CWD. The game farms here cannot be singled out as being at more risk than other game farms nationwide which have trace-back connections, direct or indirect, to Colorado.
As noted in McCombie's article, the first shipment of farm elk from areas with CWD in the wild occurred in 1992, with 66 Colorado elk going to a game farm in Plymouth, Wisconsin. The above is apparently the first shipment to Wisconsin from an elk farm with a confirmed case of CWD.
The second public document, dated 27 May 98, on state letterhead from Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt, Wisconsin Bureau of Animal Disease Control, to the owner of an elk game farm in West Bend, Wisconsin, provides trace-back provided by the State of Colorado, which according to the letter, identifies the Elk Echo Ranch in Stoneham, Colorado as the source herd for the CWD-diagnosed elk in Nebraska and further imported Wisconsin elk. it is important to stress that no CWD is suspected or diagnosed so far in Wisconsin cervids at any facility.
Dr. Ehlenfeldt says that "the state of Wisconsion currently has no rules covering CWD and is taking no action at this time. No restrictions are being placed on your herd."
Stoneham, Colorado is located near the Pawnee National Grasslands in Weld County, which borders to the east Larimer County and the epicenter of every case of CWD, the Foothills Research Station in Ft. Collins. It is entirely possible that surplus elk were sold from the Foothills Research Station to the game farm.
In the webmaster's opinion, the primary responsibility for the creation and spread of CWD falls upon the incompetent and unethical cervid nutrition researchers at the Foothills Research Station who let 67 cervids die of an infectious disease (said by staff in 1967, repeat 1967, to resemble scrapie) over a 13 year period without conducting an autopsy, while selling off surplus infected animals to zoos, game farms, and 5 other research facilities, not to mention releasing infected animals to the wild.
This facility was so shabbily constructed and maintained that according to their annual reports, feral dogs in the Ft. Collins area were repeatedly allowed to dig under the fences to attack and kill captive deer. In short, CWD, like killer bees, the algae Caulerpa taxifolia, and many others, was released into the environment by careless research scientists.
McCombie reports that in Dec 1999, researchers Mike Miller, Beth Williams, et al, reported on CWD at a Geneva, Switzerland TSE conference hosted by the World Health Organization conference. Gregory Raymond, in Caughey's lab, spoke on prion conversions in vitro. CWD prions converted human prions to a reliable proxy of the infectious form. This was counterbalanced by saying conversion is "weak" and transmission rates "low."
Raymod states: "PrP CWD induced moderate conversion of ovine PrP-sen and similarly weak conversions of human and bovine PrP-sen molecules. The efficiency of PrP CWD -induced conversion of human PrP-sen was similar to that induced by PrP BSE and less than that induced by ov-PrP Sc."
Similar to that induced by PrP BSE? Hello, is anybody home??? We have a BSE-to-human epidemic epidemic going on. Yet Colorado DoW still sold game tags to Larimer County in the fall of 1999 despite their people speaking at this WHO conference. Surely this is not public policy based on the best available science.
In their recommendations, they concluded that "there is currently no evidence that CWD in Cervidae is transmitted to humans..." (safe enough: no one has a method for diagnosing such an event) but go on to recommend that people don't eat CWD infected animals or feed them to other animals. See section 4.3, with recommendations at the end, of this pdf.
Note a single Colorado herd sourced both Nebraska herds [see below] and also supplied animals to 2 Wisconsin game farms; Colorado has not publicly released a full set of trace-forwards from this herd nor is the source of its animals known. A second herd in Colorado had a positive case in an animal from an unidentified, possibly third Colorado game farm.
The third document, dated 23 Sept 98, on Wisconsin Commerical Deer & Elk Farmer's Association letterhead from its president Mike Monson to the Wisconsin State Veterinarian, states that "the mention of a moratorium [on importing elk from CWD affected states until a diagnostic test is available, suggested by Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resourses] is not only premature, but shows, in my opinion that some people in the DNR are out to get us. We made it out of the department regulation [from DNR to the friendlier state ag dept] and as you know we have been a very cooperative and clean industry. A moratorium imposed by the DNR smacks of the way the DNR has always looked at our industry and why the industry has been so slow to grow, and provide the venison the US consumer is demanding...."
Recall that "A Model Program for Surveillance, Control, and Eradication of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Domestic Elk" presented at the October 1998 meeting of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) and developed through the initiative of the North American Elk Breeders Association, sets minimum standards for herd surveillance and monitoring by calling for voluntary CWD testing of all elk 16 months or older that die in a herd. An annual herd inventory with verification by a state or federal animal health officer would be made, and elk herds would obtain a graded status depending upon the number of years monitored without evidence of CWD. Animals could be transferred among herds of equal or lesser status.
In the event of a diagnosis of CWD in a captive elk herd, the Model outlines mandatory steps for herd disposition. The length of the quarantine period depends upon whether the state veterinarian believes there is evidence of spread of CWD within the herd as opposed to a single case. The minimum quarantine for high risk animals (those that were in contact with a CWD-positive elk) is 4 years. Herd surveillance, which includes mandatory death reporting and CWD testing on all dead animals, must be done for 5 years after the last CWD case is diagnosed. [Dr.Victor Nettles, SCWDS Briefs, Jan 99, a newsletter from the Southeastern Center for Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia]
There are provisions for sacrificing and testing the high-risk animals in the herd. High risk animals are elk that were pen-mates of an affected elk for any time up to 1 year prior to the death of the affected animal. Trace-back and trace-forward elk herds must be monitored for 3 years from the date of exposure to the affected animal.
The Model has been distributed to all state veterinarians. Although the surveillance aspect in the Model is intended to be voluntary among elk farmers, it is likely that many state veterinarians will make it mandatory. [Few did.]
The questionnaire CWD Survey by SCWDS found 6 of 31 responding states identified and pursued diagnostic evaluation on high-risk symptomatic animals; individuals in 13 states in addition to Colorado and Wyoming collected brains from 1,830 normal wild cervids for surveillance.
Another CWD case in Nebraska occurred in a captive elk in Nebraska in a captive herd of approximately 10 animals in Cheyenne County, Nebraska near Scottsbluff. It died on April 26, 1999. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will periodically check this herd and wild elk and deer in the vicinity for clinical signs of CWD.
According to the SCWDS newsletter, all captive elk on this newly diagnosed farm came from a single source herd in Colorado, which was the same source herd [Elk Echo Ranch in Stoneham, Colorado] where the first CWD elk in Nebraska of April 1998 was diagnosed (SCWDS BRIEFS Vol. 14, No. 1). There is an investigation underway to determine if other Nebraska elk herds may have received elk from this Colorado herd as well. There were no movements of elk from the second affected Nebraska herd since it was established in March 1997. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission personnel collected a wild elk that had been interacting with the captive elk through the fence; the brainstem from this wild elk was negative for CWD.
In September, 1999 according to this same wildlife veterinarian newsletter, CWD was diagnosed in a single elk from a small alternative livestock farm in Colorado. The herd was placed under quarantine and arrangements are being made for the state to purchase and depopulate the animals [not explained why public should pay for this]. Approximately 18 months prior to the CWD diagnosis, the affected elk was purchased from a larger commercial herd in Colorado, and this larger herd remains under quarantine until the completion of an epidemiological investigation. Colorado initiated mandatory CWD surveillance of privately-owned cervids in 1998. {SCWDS Briefs, John Fischer, October 1999]
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/jul00_late_news.html#ddd
remember, this was in 1999. ...TSS
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Colorado Farm-Raised Deer Farms and CWD there from 2012 report Singeltary et al
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/colorado-farm-raised-deer-farms-and-cwd.html
Monday, February 13, 2012
Stop White-tailed Deer Farming from Destroying Tennessee’s Priceless Wild Deer Herd oppose HB3164
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/stop-white-tailed-deer-farming-from.html
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Oppose Indiana House Bill 1265 game farming cervids
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/oppose-indiana-house-bill-1265-game.html
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
West Virginia Deer Farming Bill backed by deer farmers advances, why ? BE WARNED CWD
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/west-virginia-deer-farming-bill-backed.html
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE WALTZING ACROSS TEXAS FROM NEW MEXICO AND HAS BEEN FOR A DECADE
2001 - 2002
TEXAS OLD STATISTICS BELOW FOR PAST CWD TESTING;
Subject: CWD testing in Texas
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 19:45:14 –0500
From: Kenneth Waldrup
To: flounder@wt.net
CC: mcoats@tahc.state.tx.us
Dear Dr. Singletary,
In Fiscal Year 2001, seven deer from Texas were tested by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) for CWD (5 fallow deer and 2 white-tailed deer). In Fiscal Year 2002, seven elk from Texas were tested at NVSL (no deer). During these two years, an additional six elk and one white-tailed deer were tested at the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL). In Fiscal Year 2002, four white-tailed deer (free-ranging clinical suspects) and at least eight other white-tailed deer have been tested at TVMDL. One elk has been tested at NVSL. All of these animals have been found negative for CWD. Dr. Jerry Cooke of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department also has records of 601 clinically ill white-tailed deer which were necropsied at Texas A&M during the late 1960's and early 1970's, and no spongiform encepalopathies were noted.
Thank you for your consideration.
Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD Texas Animal Health Commission
========================
TEXAS CWD STATUS
Captive Cervids
There have been no reported CWD infections of captive elk or deer in Texas. There is currently no mandatory surveillance program for susceptible cervids kept on game farms, although, there has been voluntary surveillance since 1999, which requires owners of participating herds to maintain an annual herd inventory and submit samples for all mortalities of animals over 16 months of age.
snip...
SO, i thought i would just see where these Ecoregions were, and just how the CWD testing was distributed. YOU would think that with the cluster of CWD bordering TEXAS at the WPMR in NM, you would have thought this would be where the major CWD testing samples were to have been taken? wrong! let's have a look at the sample testing. here is map of CWD in NM WPMR bordering TEXAS;
NEW MEXICO 7 POSITIVE CWD WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE MAP
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/conservation/disease/cwd/documents/cwdmap.pdf
NEXT, let's have a look at the overall distribution of CWD in Free-Ranging Cervids and see where the CWD cluster in NM WSMR borders TEXAS;
Current Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease in Free-Ranging Cervids
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/cwd-distribution.html
NOW, the MAP of the Exoregion where the samples were taken to test for CWD;
CWD SURVEILLANCE SAMPLE SUBMISSIONS TEXAS
http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/diseases/cwd/CWD2003.gif
Ecoregions of TEXAS
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/images/tx-eco95.gif
IF you look at the area around the NM WSMR where the CWD cluster was and where it borders TEXAS, that ecoregion is called Trans Pecos region. Seems if my Geography and my Ciphering is correct ;-) that region only tested 55% of it's goal. THE most important area on the MAP and they only test some 96 samples, this in an area that has found some 7 positive animals? NOW if we look at the only other border where these deer from NM could cross the border into TEXAS, this area is called the High Plains ecoregion, and again, we find that the sampling for CWD was pathetic. HERE we find that only 9% of it's goal of CWD sampling was met, only 16 samples were tested from some 175 that were suppose to be sampled.
AS i said before;
> SADLY, they have not tested enough from the total population to
> know if CWD is in Texas or not.
BUT now, I will go one step further and state categorically that they are not trying to find it. just the opposite it seems, they are waiting for CWD to find them, as with BSE/TSE in cattle, and it will eventually...
see more on warning from New Mexico about CWD waltzing across Texas in the next two links ;
Monday, March 26, 2012
Texas Prepares for Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Possibility in Far West Texas
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/texas-prepares-for-chronic-wasting.html
Monday, March 26, 2012
3 CASES OF CWD FOUND NEW MEXICO MULE DEER SEVERAL MILS FROM TEXAS BORDER
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/3-cases-of-cwd-found-new-mexico-mule.html
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chronic Wasting Disease CWD cervids interspecies transmission
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/01/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-cervids.html
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Risk of Prion Zoonoses
Science 27 January 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6067 pp. 411-413 DOI: 10.1126/science.1218167
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/risk-of-prion-zoonoses.html
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Facilitated Cross-Species Transmission of Prions in Extraneural Tissue
Science 27 January 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6067 pp. 472-475 DOI: 10.1126/science.1215659
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/facilitated-cross-species-transmission.html
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
White House budget proposes cuts to ag programs including TSE PRION disease aka mad cow type disease
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/white-house-budget-proposes-cuts-to-ag.html
Minnesota
CAPTIVE CWD CONFIRMED 2002
FREE RANGING CWD CONFIRMED 2011
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685-f1.htm
Colorado
Captive CWD discovered 1967
Free ranging CWD discovered 1981
PLEASE STUDY THIS MAP !
SEE CWD MAP, RELATE TO DATES OF GAME FARM INFECTION, TO DATE OF INFECTION RATE IN WILD, SURROUNDING SAID INFECTED GAME FARMS. ...TSS
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685-f1.htm
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD CDC REPORT MARCH 2012 ***
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Occurrence, Transmission, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease
CDC Volume 18, Number 3—March 2012
SNIP...
Long-term effects of CWD on cervid populations and ecosystems remain unclear as the disease continues to spread and prevalence increases. In captive herds, CWD might persist at high levels and lead to complete herd destruction in the absence of human culling. Epidemiologic modeling suggests the disease could have severe effects on free-ranging deer populations, depending on hunting policies and environmental persistence (8,9). CWD has been associated with large decreases in free-ranging mule deer populations in an area of high CWD prevalence (Boulder, Colorado, USA) (5).
SNIP...
Reasons for Caution There are several reasons for caution with respect to zoonotic and interspecies CWD transmission. First, there is strong evidence that distinct CWD strains exist (36). Prion strains are distinguished by varied incubation periods, clinical symptoms, PrPSc conformations, and CNS PrPSc depositions (3,32). Strains have been identified in other natural prion diseases, including scrapie, BSE, and CJD (3). Intraspecies and interspecies transmission of prions from CWD-positive deer and elk isolates resulted in identification of >2 strains of CWD in rodent models (36), indicating that CWD strains likely exist in cervids. However, nothing is currently known about natural distribution and prevalence of CWD strains. Currently, host range and pathogenicity vary with prion strain (28,37). Therefore, zoonotic potential of CWD may also vary with CWD strain. In addition, diversity in host (cervid) and target (e.g., human) genotypes further complicates definitive findings of zoonotic and interspecies transmission potentials of CWD. Intraspecies and interspecies passage of the CWD agent may also increase the risk for zoonotic CWD transmission. The CWD prion agent is undergoing serial passage naturally as the disease continues to emerge. In vitro and in vivo intraspecies transmission of the CWD agent yields PrPSc with an increased capacity to convert human PrPc to PrPSc (30). Interspecies prion transmission can alter CWD host range (38) and yield multiple novel prion strains (3,28). The potential for interspecies CWD transmission (by cohabitating mammals) will only increase as the disease spreads and CWD prions continue to be shed into the environment. This environmental passage itself may alter CWD prions or exert selective pressures on CWD strain mixtures by interactions with soil, which are known to vary with prion strain (25), or exposure to environmental or gut degradation. Given that prion disease in humans can be difficult to diagnose and the asymptomatic incubation period can last decades, continued research, epidemiologic surveillance, and caution in handling risky material remain prudent as CWD continues to spread and the opportunity for interspecies transmission increases. Otherwise, similar to what occurred in the United Kingdom after detection of variant CJD and its subsequent link to BSE, years of prevention could be lost if zoonotic transmission of CWD is subsequently identified, SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD CDC REPORT MARCH 2012 ***
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Occurrence, Transmission, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease
CDC Volume 18, Number 3—March 2012
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685_article.htm
see much more here ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/occurrence-transmission-and-zoonotic.html
CJD9/10022
October 1994
Mr R.N. Elmhirst Chairman British Deer Farmers Association Holly Lodge Spencers Lane BerksWell Coventry CV7 7BZ
Dear Mr Elmhirst,
CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE (CJD) SURVEILLANCE UNIT REPORT
Thank you for your recent letter concerning the publication of the third annual report from the CJD Surveillance Unit. I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with the way in which this report was published.
The Surveillance Unit is a completely independant outside body and the Department of Health is committed to publishing their reports as soon as they become available. In the circumstances it is not the practice to circulate the report for comment since the findings of the report would not be amended. In future we can ensure that the British Deer Farmers Association receives a copy of the report in advance of publication.
The Chief Medical Officer has undertaken to keep the public fully informed of the results of any research in respect of CJD. This report was entirely the work of the unit and was produced completely independantly of the the Department.
The statistical results reqarding the consumption of venison was put into perspective in the body of the report and was not mentioned at all in the press release. Media attention regarding this report was low key but gave a realistic presentation of the statistical findings of the Unit. This approach to publication was successful in that consumption of venison was highlighted only once by the media ie. in the News at one television proqramme.
I believe that a further statement about the report, or indeed statistical links between CJD and consumption of venison, would increase, and quite possibly give damaging credence, to the whole issue. From the low key media reports of which I am aware it seems unlikely that venison consumption will suffer adversely, if at all.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030511010117/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/10/00003001.pdf
THIRD CJD REPORT UK 1994
snip...
Consumption of venison and veal was much less widespread among both cases and controls. For both of these meats, there was evidence of a trend with increasing frequency of consumption being associated with increasing risk of CJD. These associations were largely unchanged when attention was restricted to pairs with data obtained from relatives. ...
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/Archive%20reports/report3.pdf
PLUS, THE CDC DID NOT PUT THIS WARNING OUT FOR THE WELL BEING OF THE DEER AND ELK ;
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Travel History, Hunting, and Venison Consumption Related to Prion Disease Exposure, 2006-2007 FoodNet Population Survey
Journal of the American Dietetic Association Volume 111, Issue 6 , Pages 858-863, June 2011.
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/05/travel-history-hunting-and-venison.html
NOR IS THE FDA recalling this CWD positive elk meat for the well being of the dead elk ;
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Noah's Ark Holding, LLC, Dawson, MN RECALL Elk products contain meat derived from an elk confirmed to have CWD NV, CA, TX, CO, NY, UT, FL, OK RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: FOODS CLASS II
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/noahs-ark-holding-llc-dawson-mn-recall.html
now, let’s see what the authors said about this casual link, personal communications years ago. see where it is stated NO STRONG evidence. so, does this mean there IS casual evidence ????
“Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans”
From: TSS (216-119-163-189.ipset45.wt.net)
Subject: CWD aka MAD DEER/ELK TO HUMANS ???
Date: September 30, 2002 at 7:06 am PST
From: "Belay, Ermias"
To:
Cc: "Race, Richard (NIH)" ; ; "Belay, Ermias"
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 9:22 AM
Subject: RE: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS
Dear Sir/Madam,
In the Archives of Neurology you quoted (the abstract of which was attached to your email), we did not say CWD in humans will present like variant CJD.
That assumption would be wrong. I encourage you to read the whole article and call me if you have questions or need more clarification (phone: 404-639-3091). Also, we do not claim that "no-one has ever been infected with prion disease from eating venison." Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans in the article you quoted or in any other forum is limited to the patients we investigated.
Ermias Belay, M.D. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 10:15 AM
To: rr26k@nih.gov; rrace@niaid.nih.gov; ebb8@CDC.GOV
Subject: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS
Sunday, November 10, 2002 6:26 PM ......snip........end..............TSS
Thursday, April 03, 2008
A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease
2008 1: Vet Res. 2008 Apr 3;39(4):41
A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease
Sigurdson CJ.
snip...
*** twenty-seven CJD patients who regularly consumed venison were reported to the Surveillance Center***,
snip...
full text ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/04/prion-disease-of-cervids-chronic.html
Saturday, March 5, 2011
MAD COW ATYPICAL CJD PRION TSE CASES WITH CLASSIFICATIONS PENDING ON THE RISE IN NORTH AMERICA
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/03/mad-cow-atypical-cjd-prion-tse-cases.html
Sunday, February 12, 2012
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined1 (August 19, 2011) including Texas
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/national-prion-disease-pathology.html
TSS
Deer czar: herd estimates are inaccurate
Thursday, March 29, 2012 8:15 a.m. CDT
Deer
UNDATED (WSAU) Wisconsin’s “deer czar” says the D-N-R spends too much time miscalculating the size of the deer herd, and not enough time dealing with habitat and people. James Kroll issued his preliminary report yesterday, after Governor Scott Walker hired him last fall to review the D-N-R’s deer management efforts. Kroll, a deer researcher from Texas, said landowners and hunters have a quote, “intense dissatisfaction” with the agency – and a lot of it stems from what he called a failed effort to control chronic wasting disease in the last decade.
Kroll said the program regarded deer in the disease zones as pests rather than a major big game animal. He also said the D-N-R’s deer herd estimates are indefensible, and they’re based on procedures that are decades old. And he said officials have not done adequate studies on wolves, and how they fit into the state’s eco-system.
D-N-R big game ecologist Kevin Wallenfang said his agency has known about some of the issues in the report for a long time – and they’re already addressing them. Two years ago, officials started a $2-million effort to improve the deer population estimates, and determine the impact by predators. It has also expanded a computer list of hunter observations, and improved communications with the public. The D-N-R also ended the Earn-a-Buck program that required hunters to kill a doe before taking a buck.
Town hall meetings are being set throughout Wisconsin next month to discuss Kroll’s preliminary report. A final report is expected in June.
http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/mar/29/deer-czar-herd-estimates-are-inaccurate/
Wisconsin hired this guy from Texas to evaluate their CWD problem. I don’t know how this guy from Texas can help them, CWD has been waltzing across Texas for 10 years. seems Dr. Kroll should go back home and take care of CWD in Texas coming in from New Mexico. ...just my opinion of course. ...tss
INTERIM REPORT OF FINDINGS BY,
WISCONSIN WHITE-TAILED DEER TRUSTEE AND REVIEW COMMITTEE
MARCH, 2012
Drs. James C. Kroll (Trustee), David C. Guynn, Jr. and Gary L Alt
Presented to,
Wisconsin Department of Administration
Madison, Wisconsin
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wbay/INTERIM%20REPORT%20OF%20FINDINGS%20B1-2.pdf
We received news that James Kroll, a private-land deer manager from Texas
http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/deer-news/dr-deer-james-kroll-deer-report-disappoints
At the time, Kroll — nicknamed Dr. Deer — and his university research team were the only Texans using artificial insemination (A.I.) on deer. On Kroll’s advice, Grace adopted A.I. as a way to introduce superior genetics into his herd, thus becoming one of the first commercial deer breeders in North America known to use A.I.
It would become the key to success for Mustang Creek Ranch, which today markets stocker bucks, semen, open and bred does, and breeder bucks.
http://www.farmcreditbank.com/landscapes-sum08_grace.aspx
The event was the third annual Whitetail Workshop and Intro to A.I. School, led primarily by Dr. James Kroll, director of the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management and Research Center at Stephen F. Austin State University.
According to Bill Grace, owner of Mustang Creek Ranch and host of the workshop, the large attendance was indicative of a growing interest in deer breeding, an industry in which superior bucks often sell for six figures.
snip...
The Texas Deer Association, which was founded by Kroll, Grace and several other breeders in 1999, now has more than 2,000 members.
http://www.farmcreditbank.com/landscapes-sum08_grace.aspx
Original press release issued by Wisconsin DNR on March 28th, 2012
A Hillsboro man kicked off the Twelve Days of Christmas with two days of poaching.
From the night before Christmas to the holiday night, the 20-year-old roamed the roads shining and shooting bucks and does as they stood blindly in the light. “This guy wasn’t hunting. He was poaching,” Conservation Warden Mike Nice of Richland Center said of the suspect who is alleged to have illegally taken approximately 100 deer since 2011.
“In my 22 years as a conservation warden, I have never seen another individual come close to that total. The suspect didn’t care,” Warden Nice said of the multi-county case he investigated with Deputy Warden Mike Williams and Warden Cody Adams of Prairie du Chien.
The suspect, along with two other young adult males and one juvenile male, face criminal charges stemming from the eight poaching cases — four in Richland County and four in Vernon County — that were documented by the investigating wardens. Twenty one years revocation of hunting rights is being sought along with restitution and jail time for the Hillsboro man. Confiscation of three rifles used to shoot the deer is also being requested.
Criminal charges were filed in the counties in March. Court proceedings are expected this spring. Nice said the wardens were helped in their investigation by Richland County District Attorney Jennifer Harper, who, by sheer coincidence, herself received information from a tipster. “District Attorney Harper relayed the tip, but, just as importantly, she has done an outstanding job in prosecuting criminal DNR violations in her capacity as the district attorney,” Nice said.
Assistant District Attorney Stacy Smith will be prosecuting the charges in Vernon County. A total of four individuals are being charged in the case.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/holiday-poaching-spree-uncovers-illegal-killing-of-up-to-100-wisconsin-deer/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Outdoor%20Hub%20News&utm_content=March+29%2C+2012+Man+Fined+for+Hunting+Bigfoot
Thursday, February 09, 2012
50 GAME FARMS IN USA INFECTED WITH CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/50-game-farms-to-date-in-usa-infected.html
Friday, February 03, 2012
Wisconsin Farm-Raised Deer Farms and CWD there from 2012 report Singeltary et al
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-farm-raised-deer-farms-and.html
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Wisconsin 16 age limit on testing dead deer Game Farm CWD Testing Protocol Needs To Be Revised
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/wisconsin-16-age-limit-on-testing-dead.html
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE CWD WISCONSIN Almond Deer (Buckhorn Flats) Farm Update DECEMBER 2011
The CWD infection rate was nearly 80%, the highest ever in a North American captive herd.
Despite the five year premise plan and site decontamination, The WI DNR has concerns over the bioavailability of infectious prions at this site to wild white-tail deer should these fences be removed. Current research indicates that prions can persist in soil for a minimum of 3 years.
However, Georgsson et al. (2006) concluded that prions that produced scrapie disease in sheep remained bioavailable and infectious for at least 16 years in natural Icelandic environments, most likely in contaminated soil.
Additionally, the authors reported that from 1978-2004, scrapie recurred on 33 sheep farms, of which 9 recurrences occurred 14-21 years after initial culling and subsequent restocking efforts; these findings further emphasize the effect of environmental contamination on sustaining TSE infectivity and that long-term persistence of prions in soils may be substantially greater than previously thought.
snip...
SUMMARY: The Department has obtained on agreement to purchase 80 acres of land from Patricia Casey for $465,000 for the Statewide Wildlife Habitat program, In Portage County, The item is being submitted because the price exceeds the appraised value of $371,000 and because the Department will prohibit Nature-Based Outdoor Activities on the land.
The properly is located in south central Portage County about 12 miles southeast of Plover in the Town of Almond. The property, which includes a single family residence, a metal building, and a storage shed, was operated us a deer farm until 2006 at which time it was closed down because of an outbreak of chronic wasting disease (CWD). All the deer in the operation were destroyed and the operation has stood vacant for the last 5 years per U .S. Dcpnrtmeut of Agriculture requirements. During this time and until May 24, 2011, the fences around this facility must be maintained and the premise cannot be used as a deer farm, though other animals such ns cattle and horses would be permitted. After May 24, all such restrictions will expire. This site, known as the Hall Farm, had the highest prevalence of CWO positive deer recorded at any deer farm in North America.
Based on available science, the Department believes that there is an unacceptable potential risk of exposure to CWD causing prions to wild cervids in this area should the premise fencing be removed. To minimize this risk, the Department believes that the fences should remain intact and in place until science can demonstrate that there is no longer any potential risk. After extensive consideration of several options, the Department maintains that the purchase and subsequent management of the properly and fences is the only realistic option.
The Department proposes to prohibit all public use of the property in order to ensure confinement and control of contaminated soils and limit any potential spread of Chronic Wasting Disease from the property to surrounding lands and wild deer populations and to allow for research of prions and prion related diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease. The property is currently surrounded by a deer fence and removal of that fence to allow public use, or public use of any form inside the fenced area would be incompatible with the primary purpose of acquiring the properly. The Department has determined that it is necessary to prohibit all public access on the site to accommodate the Department's primary purpose for the acquisition and its Intended use of the property for research and wildlife management.
Acquisition of this properly will minimize any potential risk to local cervids from the CWD causing prions that may exist within the fenced area. The Department will consider sale of the house at a later date if local zoning can be modified for a lot size that would not contain contaminated soil. State ownership will allow the Department to maintain the deer proof fence, thereby protecting wild deer from CWD infection from the contaminated soil on this former deer farm.
RECOMMENDATION: That the Board approve the purchase of 80 acres of land for $465,000 for the Statewide Wildlife Habitat Program in Portage County and approve the restrictions on public use of the site.
snip...see full text and much more here ;
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/2011/december/12-11-2b2.pdf
SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2011/12/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-wisconsin.html
UPDATE ON SOME OLD HISTORY ON CWD AND GAME FARMS AND ANIMAL ESCAPES, BEING TRADED FROM STATE TO STATE ETC. ...
Game farm rules argued pro and con in Montana
December 12, 1999
By ERIN P. BILLINGS, Gazette State Bureau
Since 1992, the state has recorded 39 animal escapes from Montana game farm operations. During the same period there were 22 cases in which native wildlife got into a game farm. Here's a look at the number of animals escaping from game farms vs. the number of wildlife getting into the farms from the outside.
1992: Six escapes of game farm animals compared with seven animals entering the pen.
1993: Six escapes compared with one animal getting in from the outside.
1994: Nine escapes compared with one animal getting in from the outside.
1995: Six escapes compared with two animals getting in.
1996: Four escapes compared with two animals getting in.
1997: Two escapes compared with two getting in.
1998: Four escapes compared with six getting in.
1999: Two escapes compared with two getting in from the outside.<
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/dec00_cwd.html#ccc
seems to me it would be the game farm operation fault if i farmed deer escaped, OR if a wild deer or elk entered. but who would then own the wild deer? can't ever let him go, IF you are trying to keep CWD from the wild herds. by only testing dead deer at different ages per state, with sub-clinical CWD TSE, you never know when your farmed deer are infected. you could be selling them and or their products from state to state for years, before a game farm ever knows it's infected. by the time it's documented, it's too late. ...tss
How CWD spreads from Colorado
15 Jul 00 webmaster opinion
Fore background on CWD, see 1, 2, 3, 4
McCombie, in the article above, obtained access under Wisconsin's Freedom of Information Act to various CWD documents that since have been circulating on the internet, which the webmaster believes are authentic being plausible, consistent with previously disclosed information, and bearing signatures on official state stationery. These letters suggest that widespread traffic in elk coupled with minimal or non-existent state regulation and monitoring has the potential to spread CWD far and wide. Indeed, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma, and Saskatchawan have announced cases; South Dakota,Missouri, Vermont, and numerous others have documented trace-back or trace-forward herds.
The first document, dated 17 Apr 98, on state letterhead from Nebraska State Veterinarian Dr. Larry Williams to Dr. Clarence Siroky, Wisconsin State Veterinarian, is a routine herd trace-forward letter. It states that on 9 April 98, an elk from a "domesticated cervine herd " at Heartland Elk Ranch in Cody, Nebraska, was diagnosed positive for CWD. The letter states that on 7 Feb 98 an elk (tagged as "Blue 40") was sold to T/D's Elk Farm in Bloomer, Wisconsin.
The webmaster is not aware of any follow-up on "Blue 40" or any other animal on either recipient Wisconsin farm; these animals are not necessarily infected or a risk though the potential is there. None of the game farms mentioned here did anything improper, imprudent, or illegal -- CWD emerged as a serious concern subsequent to these animal transfers; there was no way of knowing the status of a given game farm at the time. There is no indication that anyone sold or purchased an animal known to be at risk of CWD. The game farms here cannot be singled out as being at more risk than other game farms nationwide which have trace-back connections, direct or indirect, to Colorado.
As noted in McCombie's article, the first shipment of farm elk from areas with CWD in the wild occurred in 1992, with 66 Colorado elk going to a game farm in Plymouth, Wisconsin. The above is apparently the first shipment to Wisconsin from an elk farm with a confirmed case of CWD.
The second public document, dated 27 May 98, on state letterhead from Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt, Wisconsin Bureau of Animal Disease Control, to the owner of an elk game farm in West Bend, Wisconsin, provides trace-back provided by the State of Colorado, which according to the letter, identifies the Elk Echo Ranch in Stoneham, Colorado as the source herd for the CWD-diagnosed elk in Nebraska and further imported Wisconsin elk. it is important to stress that no CWD is suspected or diagnosed so far in Wisconsin cervids at any facility.
Dr. Ehlenfeldt says that "the state of Wisconsion currently has no rules covering CWD and is taking no action at this time. No restrictions are being placed on your herd."
Stoneham, Colorado is located near the Pawnee National Grasslands in Weld County, which borders to the east Larimer County and the epicenter of every case of CWD, the Foothills Research Station in Ft. Collins. It is entirely possible that surplus elk were sold from the Foothills Research Station to the game farm.
In the webmaster's opinion, the primary responsibility for the creation and spread of CWD falls upon the incompetent and unethical cervid nutrition researchers at the Foothills Research Station who let 67 cervids die of an infectious disease (said by staff in 1967, repeat 1967, to resemble scrapie) over a 13 year period without conducting an autopsy, while selling off surplus infected animals to zoos, game farms, and 5 other research facilities, not to mention releasing infected animals to the wild.
This facility was so shabbily constructed and maintained that according to their annual reports, feral dogs in the Ft. Collins area were repeatedly allowed to dig under the fences to attack and kill captive deer. In short, CWD, like killer bees, the algae Caulerpa taxifolia, and many others, was released into the environment by careless research scientists.
McCombie reports that in Dec 1999, researchers Mike Miller, Beth Williams, et al, reported on CWD at a Geneva, Switzerland TSE conference hosted by the World Health Organization conference. Gregory Raymond, in Caughey's lab, spoke on prion conversions in vitro. CWD prions converted human prions to a reliable proxy of the infectious form. This was counterbalanced by saying conversion is "weak" and transmission rates "low."
Raymod states: "PrP CWD induced moderate conversion of ovine PrP-sen and similarly weak conversions of human and bovine PrP-sen molecules. The efficiency of PrP CWD -induced conversion of human PrP-sen was similar to that induced by PrP BSE and less than that induced by ov-PrP Sc."
Similar to that induced by PrP BSE? Hello, is anybody home??? We have a BSE-to-human epidemic epidemic going on. Yet Colorado DoW still sold game tags to Larimer County in the fall of 1999 despite their people speaking at this WHO conference. Surely this is not public policy based on the best available science.
In their recommendations, they concluded that "there is currently no evidence that CWD in Cervidae is transmitted to humans..." (safe enough: no one has a method for diagnosing such an event) but go on to recommend that people don't eat CWD infected animals or feed them to other animals. See section 4.3, with recommendations at the end, of this pdf.
Note a single Colorado herd sourced both Nebraska herds [see below] and also supplied animals to 2 Wisconsin game farms; Colorado has not publicly released a full set of trace-forwards from this herd nor is the source of its animals known. A second herd in Colorado had a positive case in an animal from an unidentified, possibly third Colorado game farm.
The third document, dated 23 Sept 98, on Wisconsin Commerical Deer & Elk Farmer's Association letterhead from its president Mike Monson to the Wisconsin State Veterinarian, states that "the mention of a moratorium [on importing elk from CWD affected states until a diagnostic test is available, suggested by Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resourses] is not only premature, but shows, in my opinion that some people in the DNR are out to get us. We made it out of the department regulation [from DNR to the friendlier state ag dept] and as you know we have been a very cooperative and clean industry. A moratorium imposed by the DNR smacks of the way the DNR has always looked at our industry and why the industry has been so slow to grow, and provide the venison the US consumer is demanding...."
Recall that "A Model Program for Surveillance, Control, and Eradication of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Domestic Elk" presented at the October 1998 meeting of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) and developed through the initiative of the North American Elk Breeders Association, sets minimum standards for herd surveillance and monitoring by calling for voluntary CWD testing of all elk 16 months or older that die in a herd. An annual herd inventory with verification by a state or federal animal health officer would be made, and elk herds would obtain a graded status depending upon the number of years monitored without evidence of CWD. Animals could be transferred among herds of equal or lesser status.
In the event of a diagnosis of CWD in a captive elk herd, the Model outlines mandatory steps for herd disposition. The length of the quarantine period depends upon whether the state veterinarian believes there is evidence of spread of CWD within the herd as opposed to a single case. The minimum quarantine for high risk animals (those that were in contact with a CWD-positive elk) is 4 years. Herd surveillance, which includes mandatory death reporting and CWD testing on all dead animals, must be done for 5 years after the last CWD case is diagnosed. [Dr.Victor Nettles, SCWDS Briefs, Jan 99, a newsletter from the Southeastern Center for Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia]
There are provisions for sacrificing and testing the high-risk animals in the herd. High risk animals are elk that were pen-mates of an affected elk for any time up to 1 year prior to the death of the affected animal. Trace-back and trace-forward elk herds must be monitored for 3 years from the date of exposure to the affected animal.
The Model has been distributed to all state veterinarians. Although the surveillance aspect in the Model is intended to be voluntary among elk farmers, it is likely that many state veterinarians will make it mandatory. [Few did.]
The questionnaire CWD Survey by SCWDS found 6 of 31 responding states identified and pursued diagnostic evaluation on high-risk symptomatic animals; individuals in 13 states in addition to Colorado and Wyoming collected brains from 1,830 normal wild cervids for surveillance.
Another CWD case in Nebraska occurred in a captive elk in Nebraska in a captive herd of approximately 10 animals in Cheyenne County, Nebraska near Scottsbluff. It died on April 26, 1999. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will periodically check this herd and wild elk and deer in the vicinity for clinical signs of CWD.
According to the SCWDS newsletter, all captive elk on this newly diagnosed farm came from a single source herd in Colorado, which was the same source herd [Elk Echo Ranch in Stoneham, Colorado] where the first CWD elk in Nebraska of April 1998 was diagnosed (SCWDS BRIEFS Vol. 14, No. 1). There is an investigation underway to determine if other Nebraska elk herds may have received elk from this Colorado herd as well. There were no movements of elk from the second affected Nebraska herd since it was established in March 1997. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission personnel collected a wild elk that had been interacting with the captive elk through the fence; the brainstem from this wild elk was negative for CWD.
In September, 1999 according to this same wildlife veterinarian newsletter, CWD was diagnosed in a single elk from a small alternative livestock farm in Colorado. The herd was placed under quarantine and arrangements are being made for the state to purchase and depopulate the animals [not explained why public should pay for this]. Approximately 18 months prior to the CWD diagnosis, the affected elk was purchased from a larger commercial herd in Colorado, and this larger herd remains under quarantine until the completion of an epidemiological investigation. Colorado initiated mandatory CWD surveillance of privately-owned cervids in 1998. {SCWDS Briefs, John Fischer, October 1999]
http://www.mad-cow.org/00/jul00_late_news.html#ddd
remember, this was in 1999. ...TSS
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Colorado Farm-Raised Deer Farms and CWD there from 2012 report Singeltary et al
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/colorado-farm-raised-deer-farms-and-cwd.html
Monday, February 13, 2012
Stop White-tailed Deer Farming from Destroying Tennessee’s Priceless Wild Deer Herd oppose HB3164
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/stop-white-tailed-deer-farming-from.html
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Oppose Indiana House Bill 1265 game farming cervids
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/oppose-indiana-house-bill-1265-game.html
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
West Virginia Deer Farming Bill backed by deer farmers advances, why ? BE WARNED CWD
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/west-virginia-deer-farming-bill-backed.html
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE WALTZING ACROSS TEXAS FROM NEW MEXICO AND HAS BEEN FOR A DECADE
2001 - 2002
TEXAS OLD STATISTICS BELOW FOR PAST CWD TESTING;
Subject: CWD testing in Texas
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 19:45:14 –0500
From: Kenneth Waldrup
To: flounder@wt.net
CC: mcoats@tahc.state.tx.us
Dear Dr. Singletary,
In Fiscal Year 2001, seven deer from Texas were tested by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) for CWD (5 fallow deer and 2 white-tailed deer). In Fiscal Year 2002, seven elk from Texas were tested at NVSL (no deer). During these two years, an additional six elk and one white-tailed deer were tested at the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL). In Fiscal Year 2002, four white-tailed deer (free-ranging clinical suspects) and at least eight other white-tailed deer have been tested at TVMDL. One elk has been tested at NVSL. All of these animals have been found negative for CWD. Dr. Jerry Cooke of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department also has records of 601 clinically ill white-tailed deer which were necropsied at Texas A&M during the late 1960's and early 1970's, and no spongiform encepalopathies were noted.
Thank you for your consideration.
Ken Waldrup, DVM, PhD Texas Animal Health Commission
========================
TEXAS CWD STATUS
Captive Cervids
There have been no reported CWD infections of captive elk or deer in Texas. There is currently no mandatory surveillance program for susceptible cervids kept on game farms, although, there has been voluntary surveillance since 1999, which requires owners of participating herds to maintain an annual herd inventory and submit samples for all mortalities of animals over 16 months of age.
snip...
SO, i thought i would just see where these Ecoregions were, and just how the CWD testing was distributed. YOU would think that with the cluster of CWD bordering TEXAS at the WPMR in NM, you would have thought this would be where the major CWD testing samples were to have been taken? wrong! let's have a look at the sample testing. here is map of CWD in NM WPMR bordering TEXAS;
NEW MEXICO 7 POSITIVE CWD WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE MAP
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/conservation/disease/cwd/documents/cwdmap.pdf
NEXT, let's have a look at the overall distribution of CWD in Free-Ranging Cervids and see where the CWD cluster in NM WSMR borders TEXAS;
Current Distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease in Free-Ranging Cervids
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/cwd/cwd-distribution.html
NOW, the MAP of the Exoregion where the samples were taken to test for CWD;
CWD SURVEILLANCE SAMPLE SUBMISSIONS TEXAS
http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/diseases/cwd/CWD2003.gif
Ecoregions of TEXAS
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/images/tx-eco95.gif
IF you look at the area around the NM WSMR where the CWD cluster was and where it borders TEXAS, that ecoregion is called Trans Pecos region. Seems if my Geography and my Ciphering is correct ;-) that region only tested 55% of it's goal. THE most important area on the MAP and they only test some 96 samples, this in an area that has found some 7 positive animals? NOW if we look at the only other border where these deer from NM could cross the border into TEXAS, this area is called the High Plains ecoregion, and again, we find that the sampling for CWD was pathetic. HERE we find that only 9% of it's goal of CWD sampling was met, only 16 samples were tested from some 175 that were suppose to be sampled.
AS i said before;
> SADLY, they have not tested enough from the total population to
> know if CWD is in Texas or not.
BUT now, I will go one step further and state categorically that they are not trying to find it. just the opposite it seems, they are waiting for CWD to find them, as with BSE/TSE in cattle, and it will eventually...
see more on warning from New Mexico about CWD waltzing across Texas in the next two links ;
Monday, March 26, 2012
Texas Prepares for Chronic Wasting Disease CWD Possibility in Far West Texas
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/texas-prepares-for-chronic-wasting.html
Monday, March 26, 2012
3 CASES OF CWD FOUND NEW MEXICO MULE DEER SEVERAL MILS FROM TEXAS BORDER
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/03/3-cases-of-cwd-found-new-mexico-mule.html
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chronic Wasting Disease CWD cervids interspecies transmission
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/01/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-cervids.html
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Risk of Prion Zoonoses
Science 27 January 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6067 pp. 411-413 DOI: 10.1126/science.1218167
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/risk-of-prion-zoonoses.html
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Facilitated Cross-Species Transmission of Prions in Extraneural Tissue
Science 27 January 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6067 pp. 472-475 DOI: 10.1126/science.1215659
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/facilitated-cross-species-transmission.html
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
White House budget proposes cuts to ag programs including TSE PRION disease aka mad cow type disease
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/white-house-budget-proposes-cuts-to-ag.html
Minnesota
CAPTIVE CWD CONFIRMED 2002
FREE RANGING CWD CONFIRMED 2011
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685-f1.htm
Colorado
Captive CWD discovered 1967
Free ranging CWD discovered 1981
PLEASE STUDY THIS MAP !
SEE CWD MAP, RELATE TO DATES OF GAME FARM INFECTION, TO DATE OF INFECTION RATE IN WILD, SURROUNDING SAID INFECTED GAME FARMS. ...TSS
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685-f1.htm
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD CDC REPORT MARCH 2012 ***
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Occurrence, Transmission, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease
CDC Volume 18, Number 3—March 2012
SNIP...
Long-term effects of CWD on cervid populations and ecosystems remain unclear as the disease continues to spread and prevalence increases. In captive herds, CWD might persist at high levels and lead to complete herd destruction in the absence of human culling. Epidemiologic modeling suggests the disease could have severe effects on free-ranging deer populations, depending on hunting policies and environmental persistence (8,9). CWD has been associated with large decreases in free-ranging mule deer populations in an area of high CWD prevalence (Boulder, Colorado, USA) (5).
SNIP...
Reasons for Caution There are several reasons for caution with respect to zoonotic and interspecies CWD transmission. First, there is strong evidence that distinct CWD strains exist (36). Prion strains are distinguished by varied incubation periods, clinical symptoms, PrPSc conformations, and CNS PrPSc depositions (3,32). Strains have been identified in other natural prion diseases, including scrapie, BSE, and CJD (3). Intraspecies and interspecies transmission of prions from CWD-positive deer and elk isolates resulted in identification of >2 strains of CWD in rodent models (36), indicating that CWD strains likely exist in cervids. However, nothing is currently known about natural distribution and prevalence of CWD strains. Currently, host range and pathogenicity vary with prion strain (28,37). Therefore, zoonotic potential of CWD may also vary with CWD strain. In addition, diversity in host (cervid) and target (e.g., human) genotypes further complicates definitive findings of zoonotic and interspecies transmission potentials of CWD. Intraspecies and interspecies passage of the CWD agent may also increase the risk for zoonotic CWD transmission. The CWD prion agent is undergoing serial passage naturally as the disease continues to emerge. In vitro and in vivo intraspecies transmission of the CWD agent yields PrPSc with an increased capacity to convert human PrPc to PrPSc (30). Interspecies prion transmission can alter CWD host range (38) and yield multiple novel prion strains (3,28). The potential for interspecies CWD transmission (by cohabitating mammals) will only increase as the disease spreads and CWD prions continue to be shed into the environment. This environmental passage itself may alter CWD prions or exert selective pressures on CWD strain mixtures by interactions with soil, which are known to vary with prion strain (25), or exposure to environmental or gut degradation. Given that prion disease in humans can be difficult to diagnose and the asymptomatic incubation period can last decades, continued research, epidemiologic surveillance, and caution in handling risky material remain prudent as CWD continues to spread and the opportunity for interspecies transmission increases. Otherwise, similar to what occurred in the United Kingdom after detection of variant CJD and its subsequent link to BSE, years of prevention could be lost if zoonotic transmission of CWD is subsequently identified, SNIP...SEE FULL TEXT ;
*** Chronic Wasting Disease CWD CDC REPORT MARCH 2012 ***
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Occurrence, Transmission, and Zoonotic Potential of Chronic Wasting Disease
CDC Volume 18, Number 3—March 2012
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/3/11-0685_article.htm
see much more here ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2012/02/occurrence-transmission-and-zoonotic.html
CJD9/10022
October 1994
Mr R.N. Elmhirst Chairman British Deer Farmers Association Holly Lodge Spencers Lane BerksWell Coventry CV7 7BZ
Dear Mr Elmhirst,
CREUTZFELDT-JAKOB DISEASE (CJD) SURVEILLANCE UNIT REPORT
Thank you for your recent letter concerning the publication of the third annual report from the CJD Surveillance Unit. I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with the way in which this report was published.
The Surveillance Unit is a completely independant outside body and the Department of Health is committed to publishing their reports as soon as they become available. In the circumstances it is not the practice to circulate the report for comment since the findings of the report would not be amended. In future we can ensure that the British Deer Farmers Association receives a copy of the report in advance of publication.
The Chief Medical Officer has undertaken to keep the public fully informed of the results of any research in respect of CJD. This report was entirely the work of the unit and was produced completely independantly of the the Department.
The statistical results reqarding the consumption of venison was put into perspective in the body of the report and was not mentioned at all in the press release. Media attention regarding this report was low key but gave a realistic presentation of the statistical findings of the Unit. This approach to publication was successful in that consumption of venison was highlighted only once by the media ie. in the News at one television proqramme.
I believe that a further statement about the report, or indeed statistical links between CJD and consumption of venison, would increase, and quite possibly give damaging credence, to the whole issue. From the low key media reports of which I am aware it seems unlikely that venison consumption will suffer adversely, if at all.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030511010117/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1994/10/00003001.pdf
THIRD CJD REPORT UK 1994
snip...
Consumption of venison and veal was much less widespread among both cases and controls. For both of these meats, there was evidence of a trend with increasing frequency of consumption being associated with increasing risk of CJD. These associations were largely unchanged when attention was restricted to pairs with data obtained from relatives. ...
http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/Archive%20reports/report3.pdf
PLUS, THE CDC DID NOT PUT THIS WARNING OUT FOR THE WELL BEING OF THE DEER AND ELK ;
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Travel History, Hunting, and Venison Consumption Related to Prion Disease Exposure, 2006-2007 FoodNet Population Survey
Journal of the American Dietetic Association Volume 111, Issue 6 , Pages 858-863, June 2011.
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/05/travel-history-hunting-and-venison.html
NOR IS THE FDA recalling this CWD positive elk meat for the well being of the dead elk ;
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Noah's Ark Holding, LLC, Dawson, MN RECALL Elk products contain meat derived from an elk confirmed to have CWD NV, CA, TX, CO, NY, UT, FL, OK RECALLS AND FIELD CORRECTIONS: FOODS CLASS II
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2009/03/noahs-ark-holding-llc-dawson-mn-recall.html
now, let’s see what the authors said about this casual link, personal communications years ago. see where it is stated NO STRONG evidence. so, does this mean there IS casual evidence ????
“Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans”
From: TSS (216-119-163-189.ipset45.wt.net)
Subject: CWD aka MAD DEER/ELK TO HUMANS ???
Date: September 30, 2002 at 7:06 am PST
From: "Belay, Ermias"
To:
Cc: "Race, Richard (NIH)" ; ; "Belay, Ermias"
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 9:22 AM
Subject: RE: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS
Dear Sir/Madam,
In the Archives of Neurology you quoted (the abstract of which was attached to your email), we did not say CWD in humans will present like variant CJD.
That assumption would be wrong. I encourage you to read the whole article and call me if you have questions or need more clarification (phone: 404-639-3091). Also, we do not claim that "no-one has ever been infected with prion disease from eating venison." Our conclusion stating that we found no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans in the article you quoted or in any other forum is limited to the patients we investigated.
Ermias Belay, M.D. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2002 10:15 AM
To: rr26k@nih.gov; rrace@niaid.nih.gov; ebb8@CDC.GOV
Subject: TO CDC AND NIH - PUB MED- 3 MORE DEATHS - CWD - YOUNG HUNTERS
Sunday, November 10, 2002 6:26 PM ......snip........end..............TSS
Thursday, April 03, 2008
A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease
2008 1: Vet Res. 2008 Apr 3;39(4):41
A prion disease of cervids: Chronic wasting disease
Sigurdson CJ.
snip...
*** twenty-seven CJD patients who regularly consumed venison were reported to the Surveillance Center***,
snip...
full text ;
http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2008/04/prion-disease-of-cervids-chronic.html
Saturday, March 5, 2011
MAD COW ATYPICAL CJD PRION TSE CASES WITH CLASSIFICATIONS PENDING ON THE RISE IN NORTH AMERICA
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/03/mad-cow-atypical-cjd-prion-tse-cases.html
Sunday, February 12, 2012
National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined1 (August 19, 2011) including Texas
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/national-prion-disease-pathology.html
TSS
Labels: TEXAS DEER CZAR SAYS WISCONSIN DNR NOT DOING ENOUGH ABOUT CWD LIKE POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK
posted by Terry S. Singeltary Sr. at
10:17 AM
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