Pinefarm
04-22-2002, 10:32 AM
OUTDOORS: Disease in deer calls for more action
April 20, 2002
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
With the discovery of chronic wasting disease in neighboring Wisconsin, the Michigan DNR should ban the importation of all deer and elk, stop construction of new deer and elk game preserves and farms, and force existing deer and elk ranches to build double fences, Sam Washington said.
Washington, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said that while the Department of Natural Resources has forbidden importing deer or elk from Wisconsin, the ban should cover all members of the deer family (cervids) from anywhere outside the state.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the deer in Wisconsin got CWD from somewhere else, so just banning Wisconsin deer is silly," Washington said.
CWD is a virulent and fatal disease that has infected wild deer and elk in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, and captive animals in Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and Saskatchewan. Earlier this year it was found in Wisconsin, which borders Michigan's western Upper Peninsula. Wisconsin DNR officials suspect it arrived in an infected live deer imported from a western state.
In addition to the ban on importing deer, Washington said he expects the MUCC board to pass resolutions at its meeting this weekend demanding that the Michigan DNR impose a moratorium on creating new cervid breeding facilities or game ranches, and that all existing facilities with captive deer and elk be double fenced.
"I can't stress enough how concerned we are about the discovery of CWD in Wisconsin," Washington said. "The evidence from out West is that once it starts, it spreads quickly, and Wisconsin is right next door. Out West, the policy is to kill every deer or elk they can find in any area where the disease shows up, and they still haven't been able to control it.
"We have so many more deer that if it gets into Michigan, there's probably nothing we could do to stop it."
Dennis Fox, MUCC's policy director, said the organization also opposed a bill introduced by state Rep. David Meade, R-Frankfort, that would take $1 from every deer license sold and give it to farmers to maintain fences to stop crop depredation by deer.
"What would the standards be for this? If you don't build a 10-foot fence, it doesn't do anything. And why shouldn't farmers pay for their own fencing as a cost of doing business?" Fox said. "The farmers want hunters to pay for fencing, but the farmers don't want to give hunters access to their land to kill deer."
April 20, 2002
BY ERIC SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
With the discovery of chronic wasting disease in neighboring Wisconsin, the Michigan DNR should ban the importation of all deer and elk, stop construction of new deer and elk game preserves and farms, and force existing deer and elk ranches to build double fences, Sam Washington said.
Washington, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said that while the Department of Natural Resources has forbidden importing deer or elk from Wisconsin, the ban should cover all members of the deer family (cervids) from anywhere outside the state.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the deer in Wisconsin got CWD from somewhere else, so just banning Wisconsin deer is silly," Washington said.
CWD is a virulent and fatal disease that has infected wild deer and elk in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, and captive animals in Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and Saskatchewan. Earlier this year it was found in Wisconsin, which borders Michigan's western Upper Peninsula. Wisconsin DNR officials suspect it arrived in an infected live deer imported from a western state.
In addition to the ban on importing deer, Washington said he expects the MUCC board to pass resolutions at its meeting this weekend demanding that the Michigan DNR impose a moratorium on creating new cervid breeding facilities or game ranches, and that all existing facilities with captive deer and elk be double fenced.
"I can't stress enough how concerned we are about the discovery of CWD in Wisconsin," Washington said. "The evidence from out West is that once it starts, it spreads quickly, and Wisconsin is right next door. Out West, the policy is to kill every deer or elk they can find in any area where the disease shows up, and they still haven't been able to control it.
"We have so many more deer that if it gets into Michigan, there's probably nothing we could do to stop it."
Dennis Fox, MUCC's policy director, said the organization also opposed a bill introduced by state Rep. David Meade, R-Frankfort, that would take $1 from every deer license sold and give it to farmers to maintain fences to stop crop depredation by deer.
"What would the standards be for this? If you don't build a 10-foot fence, it doesn't do anything. And why shouldn't farmers pay for their own fencing as a cost of doing business?" Fox said. "The farmers want hunters to pay for fencing, but the farmers don't want to give hunters access to their land to kill deer."