Tom Morang
05-01-2002, 03:08 PM
URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1119570,00.html
Animal disease spreads
Wildlife officials consider expanding restricted area
By Todd Hartman, News Staff Writer
May 1, 2002
State wildlife officials are considering declaring part of northwestern Colorado the state's second "endemic area" for chronic wasting disease, a label that threatens to wreak havoc on the hunting-dependent region.
To date, only a wide swath of northeastern Colorado -- where deadly chronic wasting disease has festered among deer and elk for decades -- has been tagged an endemic area, a phrase carrying major economic and legal baggage.
Now, with a handful of wild deer recently testing positive in an area south of Craig, across the state's Continental Divide, the Division of Wildlife is weighing the contentious question of whether to designate that region with the same moniker.
"Obviously it would affect everybody in the community," said Bill Wiley, a taxidermist in nearby Meeker, where locals are already reeling from the March announcement that CWD had turned up on the Western Slope.
The matter promises to be controversial Thursday, when the Colorado Wildlife Commission meets in Grand Junction. Other CWD-related topics to be considered:
Giving the Division authority to shoot hundreds of deer whenever the disease turns up outside of a known infection zone. Wildlife Commission chairman Rick Enstrom, a supporter of the plan, acknowledged it's a "scorched earth" approach to containing the disease.
A prohibition on the private possession of mule deer, or the movement of mule deer unless they are leaving Colorado -- a regulation that would spell doom for a handful of deer farms in the state but could prevent the spread of CWD.
Mandatory CWD testing of carcasses by private hunters in certain circumstances and a ban on moving potentially infectious parts of deer and elk carcasses outside of the endemic area, or areas.
How to meet expected demand from hunters this fall for CWD testing of game. Division officials say they have to decide what parts of the state will get priority for limited testing resources.
While state wildlife officials acknowledge that declaring a second CWD "endemic area" in Colorado would prove hugely unpopular in a region famous nationally for its big game hunting, they say there's no escaping the newfound existence of the disease on the Western Slope.
"What is, is -- and we can't change it," Enstrom said. Even so, he cautioned, the board's decision will likely hinge on how many deer out of a sample of 613 taken south of Craig in April end up testing positive for the disease.
So far, out of 329 tested, just three have shown infection. But the division is awaiting results on another 284 deer and 134 elk taken within a five-mile radius of where two infected deer were first discovered, in March.
"There could be an 's' after that phrase (endemic area)," Enstrom said, "depending on what we find in that culling effort up there and what those tests look like."
Wildlife commissioners, who set policy for the agency staffers, may settle for some kind of middle ground, said Mike King, a DOW policy analyst.
Instead of declaring the region an endemic area, for example, they could hedge by calling it an "outbreak endemic area," as opposed to northeastern Colorado, which could be considered a "historic" endemic area.
Or, he said, they could decline to attach any label to it, and simply agree that the region needs to be monitored for a certain period of time and treated with "heightened awareness" of CWD.
James Rios, owner of Cashway Distributors, a sporting goods store that thrives on hunting-related business, said labeling the region around Craig as an "endemic area" would be "devastating. . .It certainly would" scare hunters away, he said.
Rios criticized the notion that wildlife managers could consider CWD endemic to the region, saying too few animals have tested positive.
"It's not enough; it's just a drop in the bucket," he said.
Also Thursday, the Division is asking commissioners for authority to "eliminate" CWD if outbreaks occur outside endemic areas.
Eliminating the disease, officials say, most likely means killing most or all of the deer and elk within several miles of an infected animal -- as agency officials did near Craig.
The new elimination policy would expand the Division's two-pronged strategy, which is to minimize spread of CWD beyond the endemic area, and reduce the prevalence of the disease within the endemic area.
Contact Todd Hartman at (303) 892-5048 or hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com.
Animal disease spreads
Wildlife officials consider expanding restricted area
By Todd Hartman, News Staff Writer
May 1, 2002
State wildlife officials are considering declaring part of northwestern Colorado the state's second "endemic area" for chronic wasting disease, a label that threatens to wreak havoc on the hunting-dependent region.
To date, only a wide swath of northeastern Colorado -- where deadly chronic wasting disease has festered among deer and elk for decades -- has been tagged an endemic area, a phrase carrying major economic and legal baggage.
Now, with a handful of wild deer recently testing positive in an area south of Craig, across the state's Continental Divide, the Division of Wildlife is weighing the contentious question of whether to designate that region with the same moniker.
"Obviously it would affect everybody in the community," said Bill Wiley, a taxidermist in nearby Meeker, where locals are already reeling from the March announcement that CWD had turned up on the Western Slope.
The matter promises to be controversial Thursday, when the Colorado Wildlife Commission meets in Grand Junction. Other CWD-related topics to be considered:
Giving the Division authority to shoot hundreds of deer whenever the disease turns up outside of a known infection zone. Wildlife Commission chairman Rick Enstrom, a supporter of the plan, acknowledged it's a "scorched earth" approach to containing the disease.
A prohibition on the private possession of mule deer, or the movement of mule deer unless they are leaving Colorado -- a regulation that would spell doom for a handful of deer farms in the state but could prevent the spread of CWD.
Mandatory CWD testing of carcasses by private hunters in certain circumstances and a ban on moving potentially infectious parts of deer and elk carcasses outside of the endemic area, or areas.
How to meet expected demand from hunters this fall for CWD testing of game. Division officials say they have to decide what parts of the state will get priority for limited testing resources.
While state wildlife officials acknowledge that declaring a second CWD "endemic area" in Colorado would prove hugely unpopular in a region famous nationally for its big game hunting, they say there's no escaping the newfound existence of the disease on the Western Slope.
"What is, is -- and we can't change it," Enstrom said. Even so, he cautioned, the board's decision will likely hinge on how many deer out of a sample of 613 taken south of Craig in April end up testing positive for the disease.
So far, out of 329 tested, just three have shown infection. But the division is awaiting results on another 284 deer and 134 elk taken within a five-mile radius of where two infected deer were first discovered, in March.
"There could be an 's' after that phrase (endemic area)," Enstrom said, "depending on what we find in that culling effort up there and what those tests look like."
Wildlife commissioners, who set policy for the agency staffers, may settle for some kind of middle ground, said Mike King, a DOW policy analyst.
Instead of declaring the region an endemic area, for example, they could hedge by calling it an "outbreak endemic area," as opposed to northeastern Colorado, which could be considered a "historic" endemic area.
Or, he said, they could decline to attach any label to it, and simply agree that the region needs to be monitored for a certain period of time and treated with "heightened awareness" of CWD.
James Rios, owner of Cashway Distributors, a sporting goods store that thrives on hunting-related business, said labeling the region around Craig as an "endemic area" would be "devastating. . .It certainly would" scare hunters away, he said.
Rios criticized the notion that wildlife managers could consider CWD endemic to the region, saying too few animals have tested positive.
"It's not enough; it's just a drop in the bucket," he said.
Also Thursday, the Division is asking commissioners for authority to "eliminate" CWD if outbreaks occur outside endemic areas.
Eliminating the disease, officials say, most likely means killing most or all of the deer and elk within several miles of an infected animal -- as agency officials did near Craig.
The new elimination policy would expand the Division's two-pronged strategy, which is to minimize spread of CWD beyond the endemic area, and reduce the prevalence of the disease within the endemic area.
Contact Todd Hartman at (303) 892-5048 or hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com.