Tom Morang
05-02-2002, 08:01 AM
OUTDOORS: Concern grows over disease in Wisconsin deer
May 2, 2002
Eric Sharp
Detroit Free Press
Some people wonder if chronic wasting disease in deer, a similar ailment to mad cow disease, could come from the illegal use of animal by-products in deer feed.
That concern has been raised by the chairman of the Wisconsin Legislature's Natural Resources Committee. Chronic wasting disease has been found in southern Wisconsin, and state officials have warned that during next fall's hunt, tens of thousands of deer carcasses might be dumped in landfills by hunters who refuse to eat them, even though there is no evidence that humans can catch the disease from deer.
The United States banned the use of animal by-products in cattle feed in 1996, which probably is why this country hasn't had an outbreak of mad cow disease like the one that killed dozens of people in Great Britain.
Many doctors think that the British disaster in the late 1990s, which resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of cattle, was caused by abnormal proteins called prions. They were mixed into cattle feed in the form of ground-up bones, brains, lungs, spinal columns, spleens and blood.
Wisconsin Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud, who chairs his state's Natural Resources Committee, worries that something similar has happened with deer feed in this country.
"Feeding wild deer to produce better antlers really took off a few years ago with the growth of the quality deer management idea," said Johnsrud, an Eastman, Wis., hog farmer who once worked in livestock feed manufacturing. "Quality deer management stressed superior antler development, and a lot of hunters put out deer feed filled with supplements that promised to speed things up.
"There are all sorts of commercial products on the market. Some are made by big companies, and I don't think we have to worry much about them. But a lot of feeds are mixed up in barns and garages by what I call the Bubba element, and some of the people who make them have told me that they mix bone meal, blood and organs into the feed to help bucks grow better antlers."
Johnsrud noted that it's illegal to mix animal by-products in feed for ruminants -- animals with multiple stomachs -- such as deer and elk.
"But no one checks these little guys to find out what they're putting in the feed," he said, "and it has become a cottage industry in the area where CWD has been found."
Even manufacturers make mistakes, Johnsrud pointed out. In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tyson Foods shipped an organ slurry product for livestock feed that did not carry a mandatory warning: "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants."
Chronic wasting disease has the potential to wipe out a substantial number of deer. It was first detected in Colorado, and its spread to Wisconsin has raised concerns there and in neighboring states such as Michigan.
Many animal disease specialists think CWD reached Wisconsin in a deer or elk imported by a game ranch, but they don't dismiss Johnsrud's theory about deer feed. Dr. Daniel O'Brien, a Michigan DNR veterinarian at the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Center near Lansing, thinks the source of the Wisconsin disease is probably an imported live animal, because that has been shown to be the source in wild deer in Western states.
"But we don't know enough about CWD to rule out that it could have been in deer feed," O'Brien said. "We do know CWD has the potential to be devastating to a deer herd. Now that it has shown up in an Eastern state, with much higher deer densities than out West, we don't know what it will do.
"That's why we're holding our breath when we look at the situation in Wisconsin."
Sarah Shapiro-Hurley, a veterinarian who is a Wisconsin DNR deputy administrator, said the state "has heard rumors" that hunters used banned products in deer feed, "but so far we haven't found any links. I'm not saying we're dismissing (Johnsrud's) arguments out of hand, but we haven't found a smoking gun."
Wisconsin authorities are worried that many hunters might decide to skip the deer season this fall. The odds of that happening increased this week when Darrell Bazzell, head of the Wisconsin DNR, said the state could not guarantee it was safe to eat venison, though there is no evidence chronic wasting disease infects people.
Public confidence also wasn't helped by a reference in an Associated Press story to "mad deer disease," a term that isn't used by research scientists or hunters. The term has been floated by animal rights activists who want to link chronic wasting disease to mad cow disease and frighten hunters away from the field.
After chronic wasting disease turned up in three deer that Wisconsin hunters killed last fall (the animals looked thin and ill), the DNR there killed 500 more to see if any was infected. Wildlife officials were stunned to find that 14 had the disease in an area about 40 miles west of Madison. The area has a huge deer population.
Since chronic wasting disease was discovered in captive Colorado elk in the 1960s, it has spread to wild or captive animals in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. But no one knows how it jumped to Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin DNR plans to start a massive deer kill in the infected area on Monday. The fall firearms deer season normally lasts nine days, opening the weekend after the Nov. 15 start of the Michigan season. But next fall the Wisconsin DNR has authorized a season that will run from Oct. 14 through Jan. 31 in 10 counties surrounding the core area.
Last year, hunters brought 46,417 deer to check stations in the 10-county area (deer registration is mandatory in Wisconsin). This season, the DNR hopes to kill 150,000 deer there, about 75 percent of the herd. And in the small core area where deer with chronic wasting disease were found, Shapiro-Hurley said the goal is "to bring the deer herd down as close to zero as is possible."
Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com.
May 2, 2002
Eric Sharp
Detroit Free Press
Some people wonder if chronic wasting disease in deer, a similar ailment to mad cow disease, could come from the illegal use of animal by-products in deer feed.
That concern has been raised by the chairman of the Wisconsin Legislature's Natural Resources Committee. Chronic wasting disease has been found in southern Wisconsin, and state officials have warned that during next fall's hunt, tens of thousands of deer carcasses might be dumped in landfills by hunters who refuse to eat them, even though there is no evidence that humans can catch the disease from deer.
The United States banned the use of animal by-products in cattle feed in 1996, which probably is why this country hasn't had an outbreak of mad cow disease like the one that killed dozens of people in Great Britain.
Many doctors think that the British disaster in the late 1990s, which resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of cattle, was caused by abnormal proteins called prions. They were mixed into cattle feed in the form of ground-up bones, brains, lungs, spinal columns, spleens and blood.
Wisconsin Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud, who chairs his state's Natural Resources Committee, worries that something similar has happened with deer feed in this country.
"Feeding wild deer to produce better antlers really took off a few years ago with the growth of the quality deer management idea," said Johnsrud, an Eastman, Wis., hog farmer who once worked in livestock feed manufacturing. "Quality deer management stressed superior antler development, and a lot of hunters put out deer feed filled with supplements that promised to speed things up.
"There are all sorts of commercial products on the market. Some are made by big companies, and I don't think we have to worry much about them. But a lot of feeds are mixed up in barns and garages by what I call the Bubba element, and some of the people who make them have told me that they mix bone meal, blood and organs into the feed to help bucks grow better antlers."
Johnsrud noted that it's illegal to mix animal by-products in feed for ruminants -- animals with multiple stomachs -- such as deer and elk.
"But no one checks these little guys to find out what they're putting in the feed," he said, "and it has become a cottage industry in the area where CWD has been found."
Even manufacturers make mistakes, Johnsrud pointed out. In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tyson Foods shipped an organ slurry product for livestock feed that did not carry a mandatory warning: "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants."
Chronic wasting disease has the potential to wipe out a substantial number of deer. It was first detected in Colorado, and its spread to Wisconsin has raised concerns there and in neighboring states such as Michigan.
Many animal disease specialists think CWD reached Wisconsin in a deer or elk imported by a game ranch, but they don't dismiss Johnsrud's theory about deer feed. Dr. Daniel O'Brien, a Michigan DNR veterinarian at the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Center near Lansing, thinks the source of the Wisconsin disease is probably an imported live animal, because that has been shown to be the source in wild deer in Western states.
"But we don't know enough about CWD to rule out that it could have been in deer feed," O'Brien said. "We do know CWD has the potential to be devastating to a deer herd. Now that it has shown up in an Eastern state, with much higher deer densities than out West, we don't know what it will do.
"That's why we're holding our breath when we look at the situation in Wisconsin."
Sarah Shapiro-Hurley, a veterinarian who is a Wisconsin DNR deputy administrator, said the state "has heard rumors" that hunters used banned products in deer feed, "but so far we haven't found any links. I'm not saying we're dismissing (Johnsrud's) arguments out of hand, but we haven't found a smoking gun."
Wisconsin authorities are worried that many hunters might decide to skip the deer season this fall. The odds of that happening increased this week when Darrell Bazzell, head of the Wisconsin DNR, said the state could not guarantee it was safe to eat venison, though there is no evidence chronic wasting disease infects people.
Public confidence also wasn't helped by a reference in an Associated Press story to "mad deer disease," a term that isn't used by research scientists or hunters. The term has been floated by animal rights activists who want to link chronic wasting disease to mad cow disease and frighten hunters away from the field.
After chronic wasting disease turned up in three deer that Wisconsin hunters killed last fall (the animals looked thin and ill), the DNR there killed 500 more to see if any was infected. Wildlife officials were stunned to find that 14 had the disease in an area about 40 miles west of Madison. The area has a huge deer population.
Since chronic wasting disease was discovered in captive Colorado elk in the 1960s, it has spread to wild or captive animals in Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. But no one knows how it jumped to Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin DNR plans to start a massive deer kill in the infected area on Monday. The fall firearms deer season normally lasts nine days, opening the weekend after the Nov. 15 start of the Michigan season. But next fall the Wisconsin DNR has authorized a season that will run from Oct. 14 through Jan. 31 in 10 counties surrounding the core area.
Last year, hunters brought 46,417 deer to check stations in the 10-county area (deer registration is mandatory in Wisconsin). This season, the DNR hopes to kill 150,000 deer there, about 75 percent of the herd. And in the small core area where deer with chronic wasting disease were found, Shapiro-Hurley said the goal is "to bring the deer herd down as close to zero as is possible."
Contact ERIC SHARP at 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com.