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From: TSS (216-119-162-35.ipset44.wt.net)
State to test deer herd for disease Survey aims to prevent spread of brain-eating illness to Maine As the fall deer hunt begins next week, Maine is initiating a major effort to prevent the state's herd from becoming infected with chronic wasting disease, a highly contagious brain illness that is ravaging whitetails in Western states. This fall, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will conduct its first CWD surveys, testing the brains of as many as 700 deer in hopes of determining whether the disease has entered Maine. "Right now, we just don't know if we have it or not," Mark Stadler, head of the department's wildlife division, said Friday. Chronic wasting disease first was discovered in Colorado in 1967, and it quickly spread through deer and elk herds in 10 Western states. Eastern wildlife managers felt relatively safe, however, protected by the Mississippi River. The discovery of CWD in Wisconsin deer herds in February, however, changed everything. Now, with 18 verified cases, wildlife officials in that state are scheduling special hunts to kill the very deer that support their $897 million hunting industry. Wisconsin's experience demonstrates why it is essential for Maine, with its own $240 million annual deer hunt, to be vigilant in searching for CWD, said Gerry Lavigne, a state wildlife biologist who specializes in deer studies. "If we're going to detect it, we want to detect it as early as possible," he said. Human risk Chronic wasting disease is one of a family of incurable diseases that eats away the brain, causing a loss of physical and mental control, and eventually death. Known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or TSEs, these diseases also include the illness commonly known as mad cow disease, which is known to infect humans. Chronic wasting disease can kill native and exotic species of deer as well as several types of elk. It has never been found in moose or caribou, but there is no biological reason to impede its spread to these animals. The disease is highly contagious. Urine, saliva and feces, as well as the brain and spinal tissues, are believed to spread CWD among deer and elk. Biologists disagree about whether CWD can be transmitted to humans, but they urge hunters to exercise caution. To protect their own health and that of the herd, Maine hunters should not use deer lures that contain urine, nor should they sprinkle these lures on the ground. Only lure canisters that can be hung from a tree, out of reach of a deer, are considered safe, Lavigne said. Venison is not considered a risk in Maine, but growing evidence about the spread of mad cow disease through beef has caused concern among a minority of scientists. In fact, after three men died of a human TSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in the late 1990s, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified CWD as a potential cause. They sampled deer in western Maine where the men had hunted, searching for signs. All 299 of the deer tested in the 1999 sample were disease-free, Lavigne said. This test is one of the major reasons why Maine biologists feel safe in assuming that the state's 240,000 deer are not likely infected, and venison is completely safe, Lavigne said. "There is no evidence that CWD is in Maine or anywhere near it," he said. Testing To answer the question once and for all, wildlife biologists this fall will sample brain tissue from between 500 and 700 deer from throughout all of the state's wildlife management districts. Most of the samples will be obtained from butchers and taxidermists during the fall hunting season, although biologists may ask individual hunters for cooperation in regions where more samples are needed. Nearly all of the lower 48 states will conduct some level of testing for CWD this fall, Stadler said. In places like Colorado, where thousands of elk and deer are infected, almost all hunted deer are tested. Thousands of people call a state hot line to check the status of their kill before consuming the meat. Until there is conclusive evidence of CWD, Maine will not offer such a service, Stadler said. There is no live-animal test for the disease, so brain tissue samples must be sent to one of a dozen out-of-state labs for analysis. The test costs $70 per deer, which places the expense of Maine's 2002 sample at nearly $50,000, to be paid for by the state. Similarly sized samples likely will be tested each hunting season so long as the disease is not found, Lavigne said. Citizen action Biologists also are asking for hunters' assistance. The department has published an informational pamphlet that will be distributed in the next few weeks, explaining CWD and telling people what signs infected deer would exhibit. Extreme thinness, drooling, shaking and a lack of fear are typical, although people are cautioned not to jump to conclusions. Other deer maladies, such as winter starvation and rabies, can cause some similar behavior. "Deer with CWD are just a rack of bones. You can't mistake it once you've seen it," Lavigne said. Wildlife biologists have never received reports of deer in Maine with CWD symptoms, but they ask people who believe they've seen one to call their regional wildlife biologist or game warden, and to stay away. Shooting an infected animal would only encourage the disease's spread, he said. A dense deer population can spread CWD with frightening speed, so biologists are discouraging Mainers from feeding deer this winter. Deer tend to congregate around feed in unnaturally high numbers, increasing the risk of spreading diseases, Lavigne said. "If this disease gets into a feeding site, it's going to spread like wildfire," he said. Most of the states where CWD has been found have banned the recreational feeding of wild deer, he said. Hunters who travel out of state for the deer hunt are warned to bring back only meat that has been butchered or trophies that have been mounted by a taxidermist. An infected carcass from elsewhere could easily spread the disease among Maine animals, Lavigne said. The following locations have verified CWD infections among deer or elk: Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana and Oklahoma, as well as Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada. Further information about CWD is available from hunting license agents or by calling DIF&W at 287-8000. http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=89721&CFID=5727207&CFTOKEN=22745923 TSS
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