CWD meeting held in Houston
Photo by Noppadol Paothong, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation
By Shari Harris, Publisher
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) held a public meeting on Tuesday, January 7, in Houston. Landowners, hunters, and conservation partners were invited to attend and learn more about chronic wasting disease (CWD) and MDC plans for managing the disease.
Despite the less-than-ideal weather, a good turnout was reported. An extensive slide presentation outlined what CWD is, how it is transmitted, and what goals MDC has in place to address it. MDC Cervid Program Supervisor Jason L. Isabelle was on hand to field questions from the public.
A common goal between MDC and the public is to maintain a healthy deer population. To do this, the spread of CWD must be slowed. MDC is managing CWD with confined cervid regulations, broad-scale CWD management and localized CWD management. They asked the public to join in a team effort to help manage CWD.
One deer in Texas County tested positive for CWD this fall, the first in the county. A Post-Season Targeted Removal is planned for a Core Area within about two miles of the CWD detection. A removal goal of 110 deer has been set for the area between January 16 and March 15.
The goal of the targeted removal is to remove infected deer at a rate high enough to slow CWD spread. Lowering deer density will minimize disease spread and minimize the accumulation of infectious prions in the environment. This will keep prevalence rates as low as possible and limit population impacts to surrounding uninfected populations..
Removal will take place only with landowner permission. Landowners and their designees can remove deer, or landowners may opt to give MDC permission to utilize trained shooting teams. All deer will be tested and MDC will arrange for processing. All meat from deer that do not test positive will be returned to the landowners or donated.
If the removal goal is met this year, targeted removals will not occur in this CWD Core Area in future years unless there is another CWD detection.
CWD is 100 percent fatal to deer, and MDC considers it among the greatest conservation challenges of our time.
In the 1990s, CWD was found in three states, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. In the three decades since, it has spread to numerous states and Canada. Prevalence rates of the disease have been shown to increase from single digits to 50 percent in adult male deer in less than 20 years. CWD has been shown to cause declines in deer populations and poses a significant threat to hunting culture and the related economy.
Surveillance has allowed early CWD detection in Missouri. The goal is to detect early so management can be implemented when it is most effective. Once the disease becomes well-established, control options become limited.
CWD testing began in Missouri in 2002, and CWD was first detected in the state in captive deer in 2010 and wild deer in 2012. In Missouri thus far, 693 total CWD-positive deer have been detected, in 45 counties.
In the last year, positive cases were found in 29 counties. The good news is that 21 of these counties had less than a one percent apparent prevalence.
Clinical symptoms of CWD include emaciation and a wide stance, lowered head, droopy ears and excessive salivation. Death can occur in weeks to several months after clinical symptoms appear. A diseased deer may appear healthy for 18-24 months before showing clinical symptoms, so you can’t tell if a deer is healthy just by its appearance.
Although there is no strong evidence that CWD is transmissible to humans, the CDC recommends that deer harvested in areas where CWD is present be tested, and meat from animals that test positive should not be eaten.
