- Hello Jeff -
-
- All White Tail Deer please be advised that you are NOT
allowed to cross the border from NY State into New Hampshire, by way of
Vermont!
-
- Sound ludicrous? Of course it does. Deer recognize
NO borders. I do, however, agree with banning importation of deer or elk
from endemic states into non CWD states. Although, I must say that the
problem with highlighting "endemic" is that all states may be
endemic now. Just a month or two ago NY State was considered to be free
of CWD, as I was told when I tried to report a suspect case last
summer.
-
- BACKYARD FEEDING OF DEER
-
- I do understand the problems that can be associated with
backyard feeding of deer or elk. People who do want to enjoy nature in
their own backyard can entice deer into the yard simply by growing patches
of deer favorite forage. Feed stores also sell products like "Antler
Mix" which is a combination of different forage seeds that will grow
tasty forage patches. Clover is also a favorite of deer. Deer can even
dig out and obtain clover under snow. Forage patches and plenty of
freshwater
are all one needs to safely augment deer feeding.
-
- Feeding commercial grains is not a healthy food source
for deer and people may be sentencing deer and elk to death by so doing.
Forage patches, whether large or small, will attract deer and supplement
their diet. Deer perfer foraging as it is their natural way of
eating.
-
- I do, however, believe that backyard feeding, if done
by forage patch growing, can be beneficial to deer. It can also be
another
way of monitoring the health of deer populations. Sick deer, especially
deer showing signs of CWD can be easily spotted by people watching deer
graze in their forage patches. If a CWD suspect deer is noticed please
quickly call your state pathologist or local or state veterinarian.
-
- I am afraid that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is quite
widespread and there may be cases in states that have not identified CWD.
Simply because we don't identify it, does not necessarily mean it isn't
there.
-
- CWD is identified more frequently in captive deer herds
as people are monitoring the health of these herds more closely. If a
free ranging deer becomes CWD infected and dies in the woods, chances are
we will never know. Free ranging deer are customarily identified by
hunters
who submit samples. This is only a fraction of free ranging deer. Odds
are that CWD is in many more states, and, maybe throughout the continental
US and beyond.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
-
- Diseased Deer Spark Concern
Officials On Alert For Brain Disorder
By Rebecca T. Dickson
Monitor staff
Article published Apr 7, 2005
-
- Two deer that tested positive for a fatal and highly
contagious brain disease in New York last week have New Hampshire officials
on alert.
-
- The farm-raised white-tailed deer from Oneida County
turned up with chronic wasting disease - a neurological disorder that is
not transmissible to humans -marking the first time it was found in the
Northeast. The eastern migration has officials stepping up efforts to
discourage
backyard deer feeding and reminding hunters of laws prohibiting the
importation
of deer and elk carcasses from states that have CWD.
-
- "We are trying to be as proactive in prevention
as we can," said Kent Gustafson, state Fish and Game deer project
leader. "We have no reason to expect to find it. But if we are going
to find it, we want to know as soon as we possibly can."
-
- New Hampshire, like other New England states, performs
tests annually on portions of the deer kill. (More than 380 samples were
taken from this year's 10,000 kill.) The state Department of Agriculture
and the state veterinarian also sample farm-raised red deer, white-tailed
deer and elk each time they go to slaughter. To date, none turned up with
the disease, but Fish and Game is still awaiting this year's
results.
-
- Chronic wasting disease bores holes in deer and elk
brains,
causing them to stagger and salivate before they waste away and die. The
disease has attacked both species in Colorado and Wyoming for decades.
Two years ago, it popped up 1,000 miles east, in Wisconsin and then
Illinois.
In New York, officials announced the first case of CWD last Thursdayand
another on Saturday. The deer lived on farms five miles apart, officials
said. Both herds will be destroyed and tested, and officials plan
"intensive
testing" of wild deer nearby. State regulators also implemented
precautionary
rules to limit the transportation and possession of whole deer or elk
carcasses
taken near the location of the captive herd, and they plan to restrict
importing live deer and elk.
-
- New Hampshire already bans live deer or elk from out
of state. About two years ago, the law was beefed up to prohibit importing
carcasses from states that have known cases of CWD. But now that the
disease
has moved closer to home, officials say, the threat is heightened.
-
- "A lot of people go to other states to hunt, out
West or to Colorado,"Gustafson said. "The furthest east it (the
disease) had been was Wisconsin and Illinois - far enough away that hunters
wouldn't throw a deer carcass in the back of their pickup and drive it
back.
-
- "Now, we know we have a fair bunch of hunters that
hunt in New York," he said. "We have to do a good job of getting
the word out to them to be very careful when they come back into New
Hampshire.
Not only is it illegal to bring (carcasses) back from New York, but it'd
also be a pretty good risk to our deer herd."
-
- Infected carcasses left in the woods transmit the disease
to vegetation which, if eaten by another deer, further spreads it, he
said.
-
- In the coming months, efforts to discourage backyard
feeding of the state's 85,000 deer will be amplified. Officials have long
said the practice is one of the surest ways to make the herds more
vulnerable
to starvation, predators, car accidents and disease, such as CWD.
-
- No one can say for sure how CWD is spread, but strong
evidence suggests it's by physical contact between deer, such as licking
or sneezing. When the deer are concentrated in a small area - a back yard
with a bunch of deer pellets, for example - the chance for transmission
increases because of closer contact among the animals and concentrated
urine and feces on the ground. In natural deer yards, the risk is lower
because feeding is dispersed.
-
- In New York, officials were so concerned about the spread
of CWD, they passed a law a few years ago making backyard feeding illegal,
with a few exceptions for captive deer or research. New York has an
estimated
433 establishments raising more than 9,600 deer and elk, compared to the
handful of farms in New Hampshire. The former also has a wild deer
population
that hovers at about 1 million, according to the New York Department of
Environmental Conservation.
-
- Across North America, CWD has been detected in both wild
and captive deer and elk populations; in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas,
Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin
and Wyoming, and in Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada.
-
- http://www.lake-link.com
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board.
-
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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