North Dakota steps up plans to block deer disease
Date: 06-Jun-02
Country: USA
Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a brain-destroying condition related to mad cow disease, has been found in deer or elk herds in several U.S. states, including South Dakota and Montana, and in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, each of which border North Dakota.
Earlier this year, the illness was found to have spread east of the Mississippi River when three Wisconsin deer tested positive for CWD.
"Deer and elk are a prized wildlife resource in North Dakota, as well as a valuable economic product for the state's deer and elk ranchers," Hoeven said in a statement. "We need to take an aggressive, proactive effort, both in the wild and on the ranch, to protect these valuable resources."
Randy Kreil, a spokesman for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said the state's CWD contingency plan would be ready by mid-summer.
In addition, the department will begin a pilot program this fall to test for CWD during hunting season. Rather than contacting hunters directly to provide deer tissue samples, Kreil said the state intends to work with butchers who process deer for hunters.
"Our goal is 400 samples for this fall," Kreil said. The voluntary program will debut this year in eastern North Dakota, where the state's wild deer population is the most dense, and in the southwest corner, which abuts the CWD-infected states of Montana and South Dakota.
Eventually the department intends to take the testing program statewide, Kreil said.
North Dakota already requires CWD tests on captive deer and elk that die on ranches or hunting preserves. Tissue samples from more than 700 captive deer have been tested since the policy was initiated in 1998, and no cases of CWD have been found.
North Dakota's wild deer herd is estimated at several hundred thousand head, but population densities per square mile are far lower than in states like Wisconsin or Michigan, Kreil said. CWD is believed to spread more easily in areas where deer concentrations are high.
Scientists do not know if CWD can infect humans who eat meat from diseased animals, but the World Health Organization has advised against eating venison or any part of an animal showing signs of the disease.