Wi editorial

[Pinefarm]

Mad deer disease rings alarm bells

By Journal Times staff, 5/1/02

EDITORIAL -- There was a chill in the warning words of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary Darrell Bazzell Monday when he told state hunters there was no guarantee it would be safe to eat the deer they kill this year.

"Clearly, hunters will have to make some tough choices this fall," Bazzell, "We cannot guarantee 100 percent a clean bill of health."

An unsafe deer hunt in Wisconsin? The implications could be enormous, cutting a wide swath through traditions, state tourism, economic impacts, licensing revenue -- and public health, first and foremost, public health.

The appearance of "mad deer disease" or chronic wasting disease in a trio of deer taken near Mount Horeb in last fall's hunt marked the first time the fatal brain disease has appeared in deer east of the Mississippi River -- previously it had been seen only in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming. A special DNR hunt in the Mount Horeb area this spring killed 516 deer -- and 11 of them had chronic wasting disease, which causes an animal to grow thin, act abnormally and die.

This week Bazzell stressed there is no scientific study that has shown the fatal brain disease poses any threat to humans.

For some that will be reassuring.

For others, it will evoke memories of Britain and its struggles with mad cow disease. When it initially appeared British officials assured their populace that humans couldn't get the disease -- only to have to retract those words a year later when it did indeed cross the animal-to-human barrier.

Within four years time 80 Britons died from the human version of mad cow disease -- a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) -- apparently after eating infected beef. The outbreak convulsed the European beef market and was followed last year by an outbreak of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease that together cost billions of dollars.

The fact is very little is known about chronic wasting disease. It is believed that it is spread from deer to deer through close contact. It appears to be caused by an abnormal prion -- a type of protein -- that replicates itself in the animal's brain and causes sponge-like lesions.

Whether the disease can jump the species barrier is still an open question -- as Bazzell indicated. But that's simply testimony to our lack of knowledge.

The incidence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States is very low -- about five people get it in the state each year and usually they are older people. Among younger people it has been even more rare, with only four U.S. cases involving people under age 30 developing CJD over a 17-year period ending in 1996. In the past four years, however, there have been three cases of CJD in that age bracket, all involving deer hunters.

The numbers are all small. But the stakes if something is truly going wrong are enormous.

We don't intend to be scaremongers, but if this disease can jump the species barrier, the cost will be paid in lives. If this disease can jump from deer to cows, the cost will be livelihoods and dollars. If this disease can be spread through contaminated butchering equipment it could affect even those who do not hunt.

Those are the "ifs" that we need answers to and we need them soon.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland are doing work comparing deer prions and those from people who have died from CJD and that may shed some light on the issue within a few months.

Gov. Scott McCallum has asked the federal government for $15 million to fight chronic wasting disease and the DNR and other state agencies are asking for $4 million immediately to combat the disease.

We would expect those efforts would get strong support from our Congressional delegation and our legislators -- state budget battle or no budget battle.

The Wisconsin deer herd is estimated at

1 million animals and a third to a half of them are killed by hunters each fall. It is doubtful, according to DNR officials, that the state could contract with enough private laboratories to check each deer killed, and that is a question that must be resolved.

In the meantime, the DNR has asked landowners in southwestern Wisconsin to voluntarily stop feeding deer to stem the spread of the fatal disease. We would urge each county to enact an emergency rule ordering such a measure -- as has been proposed in Dane County.

There are measures to take and questions to be answered -- now and not next fall. If the issue comes down to the "tradition" of the hunt versus a danger to public health -- public health must take the priority.

We don't want to hear the lament: "Why didn't they do something back then."



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[Tom Morang]

Deer kill revs up critics in hot zone

By Anita Weier and Samara Kalk
May 1, 2002

TOWN OF VERMONT - Linda Derrickson is on the side of the deer - and of her own animals.

"A panic mentality is going on," said Derrickson, the town of Vermont treasurer who farms and operates a bed and breakfast inn with her husband.

"The DNR's knee-jerk reaction seems to be 'let's kill them.' The landowners weren't asked what we felt about it. We read it in the paper. I've been on the phone to the governor and the DNR."

The state Department of Natural Resources has announced plans to eliminate 90 percent of the white-tailed deer herd in the western Dane County and eastern Iowa County area where 14 deer afflicted with chronic wasting disease were found. The town of Vermont was a hot spot for the fatal nervous system disease.

The DNR will explain what's been done and what's being considered to combat the spread of the disease during an informational meeting at 7 tonight at Mount Horeb High School.

Secretary Darrell Bazzell acknowledges that his agency's actions may seem quick and drastic, but adds, "Our best chance of getting ahead of this disease is to act swiftly and decisively.

Derrickson objects.

"Our ancestors did not kill if it was not necessary. We have decided to slaughter based on hysteria," she said. "It's wrong for human beings to play God."

"In Colorado, slaughter didn't eradicate it." She worries about fawns left starving and bewildered when their mothers are killed.

"I have sheep, cattle and chickens," she added. "If we slaughter all the deer, my animals will become coyote bait. Those coyotes have to feed on something."

She also fears that people or livestock might be hit if high-powered rifles are turned loose in the tree-shrouded hills and valleys of the town.

Derrickson, 54, maintains that if the agency had not in the past restricted killing does and limited the times when people could hunt to a week or 10 days, the deer population would not have grown out of control.

Derrickson also suggests that perhaps CWD is nature's way of controlling over-population. Or the deer may have had the disease for some time, until finally people noticed.

She wonders whether feeding blocks and pesticide might have brought on the disease, or if it did travel from elsewhere.

"There's not a baseline of research," Derrickson said. "Where is their data?"

Another resident who lives on the edge of the chronic wasting disease target area, says the DNR's massive shoot may actually spread the disease, not contain it.

Dr. John Barnes, a retired veterinarian, said the deer, when disrupted, will move from the target area. Other deer will move in and the habitat will remain contaminated.

"Deer are very aware of territorial openings when they are available," said Barnes, a self-described wildlife advocate, who retired from his practice, Westgate Pet Clinic, 10 years ago.

"The reality of this whole thing is that this disease is here and its going take a toll on animals," he said.

Barnes, who lives on a 200-acre wildlife sanctuary in rural Verona not far from the epicenter of the CWD discoveries in Mt. Horeb, said the widespread slaughter of deer in the target area is not an eradication program. "I think it is gross misuse of power, of force, of killing."

Tom Hauge, the DNR's director of wildlife management, estimates there are 13,000 white-tailed deer in the 415-square-mile area in western Dane and eastern Iowa counties, although a helicopter survey showed there may be many more.

Steps taken or being considered by the CWD Interagency Task Force include:

Testing 500-deer in the sample to get information on the spread of the disease.

Working with the CWD testing lab in Ames, Iowa, to increase the number of Wisconsin deer tested for CWD.

Discussions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on creating CWD testing labs in Wisconsin.

Requesting federal funding to finance a CWD control effort.

Holding informational meetings on CWD and making the latest CWD information available on the Internet.

Getting venison consumption information and human health data to the public.

Moving ahead to develop special hunting season proposals for the fall 2002 hunting season.

Placing tough new regulations on the importation of elk and deer to Wisconsin, and on testing elk and deer on farms in Wisconsin.

The DNR is also asking landowners in the CWD area to stop feeding deer and to remove any deer feed still on the land.

The measures being taken by the DNR are not going to eradicate the disease in Wisconsin, said Barnes, the retired veterinarian.

"People are being deceived. It does not have a chance," he said.

The CWD organism, really a foreign protein, is already established in the environment, he said, and is very stable to temperatures, both hot and cold.

Barnes predicts that a large area of the state is already contaminated by the organism and because of the protein's stability, it will be around for years.

"So unfortunately it is here to stay," he said. "It is not going away. We have to realize this."