# Wildlife Agency admits spreading CWD



## Dan Marsh (Jan 14, 2003)

The Department Of Wildlife in Colorado (DOW) has admitted to mistakes surrounding their responsibility for spreading CWD. Most egregious is that DOW knew of their wrongdoing and has attempted to lay blame on the elk production industry. There are extremists that claim producers cannot be trusted with privately owned cervidae and that deer are the exclusive "bag" of wildlife agencies. It appars it is the wildlfie agency that cannot be trusted. Elk and deer producers know how to raise these animals properly and have demonstrated that fact. The wildlife agency has proven themselves otherwise. 


The links to the article are below the article heading.

CWD--Deer group says state spread CWD

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1676893,00.html


CWD-Officials admit they spread CWD in Western Slope 

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1122087,00.html

CWD-Officials admit government made mistake

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E11799%7E1116921,00.html?search=filter

Below is the offical report admitting releases in eastern Colorado!

Be sure to go to the link in the paper and print it up...it provides the admission of releasing animals symptomtic of CWD. CO released animals in the east and west in CO!

Remember, this was known the whole time the privately owned cervidae industry was being blamed by THE AGENCY ITSELF!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE EXPOSURE RISKS FROM COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Historical records and interviews have been used to ascertain the potential to which wild cervid populations may have been exposed to chronic wasting disease (CWD) from research activities of the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) and collaborators that used animals from the CDOWs Foothills Wildlife Research Facility (FWRF) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The general principle at FWRF, at least since 1985, has been that deer or elk, once born in, or brought to the facility, do not leave. This was not always true, and the following are summaries of projects where captive animals associated with FWRF could have been placed in contact with wild populations.

Elk Research in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) (Further details appended at the end of this report)  Conducted between 1976 and 1978, this study used 5 tame elk obtained from Sybile Wildlife Research Unit in Wyoming and the Denver Zoo. The tame elk grazed freely in selected areas of the park for 75 - minute feeding trials. The total time each animal spent in feeding trials was 260 hours over the 2 years of fieldwork. The tame animals were maintained in a holding pen at Little Horseshoe Park at RMNP in November  March and June  September both years. The tame animals never were held at FWRF prior to or during the study, but instead were reared and held at holding pens south of the Division offices on Prospect Road, Fort Collins. There is no record of CWD occurrence at these pens.

The tame elk were taken to FWRF after the study in 1978 and, approximately 3 years after they had last been at RMNP, 2 of the animals showed clinical symptoms of CWD and died in 1981. The remaining 3 were euthanized in 1985 (when all cervids at FWRF were killed). CWD was not detected via histopathology.

Elk  Cattle Competition Research at Little Snake Wildlife Management Area, ~ 19 mi. north of Maybell, CO (Further details appended at the end of this report) Conducted between 1986 and 1990, any potential exposure to CWD would have occurred in the final 2 years, 1989  1990. Eleven elk captured as calves in RMNP and then reared in chlorine-treated pens at FWRF were used in the study and were returned to FWRF at the end of each field season. 4 of these elk eventually were found to have CWD; the remainder, including 4 that still live, did not contract the disease. One of the CWD elk died at FWRF, between the 1989 and 1990 field seasons. Another died in May 1991, more than 1 year after the study was terminated. The other CWD deaths occurred in June 1992 and February 1995, again at FWRF. These cases are described in Miller et al., 1998.

152 wild elk were also at the Little Snake study facility during the time of potential exposure, and subsequently were released in place, back to the wild. The maximum potential exposure consisted of the potential for nose-to-nose contact between 10 wild elk and from 1 to 4 possible CWD elk (tame) across an electrified fence during two 4.5-month periods. The remaining wild elk had potential exposure from the excreta deposited by tame elk during a single 2-hour grazing trial in each pasture each of two years (4 hours total/pasture). Since not all tame elk entered all pastures, and numbers of wild elk in each pasture varied, the numbers given are the maxima.

Middle Park Deer Studies, Federal Aid Projects W-038-R (Source data are lacking  the following information comes from secondary sources, including Federal Aid reports). - The Junction Butte captive animal facility (near Kremmling, CO) and FWRF shared a number of deer during the late 1970s - these deer typically were held at Junction Butte during the summer and at FWRF during the winter. In the period 1975  1985, at least 2 mule deer at Junction Butte displayed symptoms thought to indicate CWD and died. Other mule deer (5  7) at Junction Butte displayed similar symptoms and were destroyed at FWRF. In 1976, wild does (number not known) were trapped and held at Junction Butte until fawning. Fawns were transported to FWRF for hand-rearing for research purposes, and the adult does were released into the wild. from September 1985 until March 1991, no animals were held at Junction Butte. From March through September 1991, about 40 confiscated elk and their calves were held at Junction Butte. There is no indication from available surveillance data that CWD infected these elk, or has become established in free-ranging deer associated with Junction Butte. Examinations of 410 harvested mule deer from DAU D-9 (Middle Park) in 1999 did not yield any CWD-positive animals. There is a 98% probability that a CWD-positive animal would have been detected at a prevalence of > 0.01.

Little Hills (Piceance Basin, southwest of Meeker) Studies (Source data are lacking  the following information comes from secondary sources)  Between 40 and 50 captive deer were moved between FWRF or Colorado State University pens and Little Hills for food habits studies between 1975-1980 (4 deer were from Junction Butte). Typically fawns were obtained at Little Hills, taken to FWRF for hand rearing, and then transported to Little Hills for research. It is not clear whether CWD cases were diagnosed at the Little Hills facility. A report (80W101) on a CWD case from May 1980 includes, as part of the history narrative, a statement that the subject deer was "raised at Little Hills where there has not been a confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease". However, this deer had spent 1 winter at Junction Butte (Kremmling). It is unclear from the report whether this deer died at Little Hills, Kremmling, or Fort Collins; the "Location of origin" is listed as "Meeker (Little Hills) Colorado, Division of Wildlife", but whether that is the ultimate or proximate origin of this deer cant be discerned. One tame deer escaped the Little Hills facility in 1979 and another escaped in 1980. Additionally, 2 were lost to predators in the Little Hills facility. The remaining animals were apparently returned to the FWRF. There is no indication from available surveillance data that CWD has become established in free-ranging deer that could have been associated with the Little Hills studies. Examinations of 434 harvested mule deer from DAU D-7 (White River), primarily GMUs 22,23,11, and 211 had not yielded any CWD-positive animals prior to 2002. There is a 99% probability that a CWD-positive animal would have been detected at a prevalence of > 0.01.

STUDY DETAILS FROM ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK and LITTLE SNAKE STATE WILDLIFE AREA (pdf file)




___________


----------



## ETm (Jul 28, 2001)

All this proves is that the Wildlife Agency is no worse than the Captive Cervid Industry.


----------



## Dan Marsh (Jan 14, 2003)

The deer and elk prooduction industry does not deserve that remark....they have done nothing wrong, If you read the articles, you will see the Mule Deer Association is planning on apologizing to the industry for pointing the finger in the wrong place.


----------



## Whit1 (Apr 27, 2001)

Dan,
I disagree with your claim of innocence for the captive cervid industry. A captive cervid, be it state penned or otherwise is still a captive cervid. It has been documented that captive animals from game farms, interchanged between state boundries, have been infected with CWD. They were found in WI.

To sit and claim there is no danger from transporting animals is ludicrous. What is more, it is that attitude that is raising the risk of infection in MI deer herd.

It always amazes me how enterprising groups with the most to lose would fight tooth and nail against regulations that attempt to protect their interests.

I am a hardliner on this one. If left up to me, and it isn't and won't be, I'd ban game farms, etc. Period!


----------



## Dan Marsh (Jan 14, 2003)

I did not claim there is no danger from transporting animals, dead or alive. We have reduced the risk of transmitting the disease, as with all infectious diseases in livestock, with the creation of a survelliance and monoritoring program for live privately ownned deer. No such monitoring is in place for out-of-state carcasses. 

I never claimed innocence for the privately owned cervid industry. The industry is doing all things appropriate. THERE IS NOT ONE DOCUMENTED CASE OF A PRIVATELY OWNED CERVID TRANSMITTING CWD TO WILD DEER. However, the same is not true of wild deer to privately owned. 

There are more than 20 "theories" on this disease. We look to science for guidance and decison support. we are not getting that from science right now. So we turn to experience and common sense. That tells us people are not effected, livestock are NOT effected, and wild herds ARE NOT diminishing as a result of the disease (if fact they are increasing in the CO endemic area).

The people that raise deer are good people and will do the right thing--as has been demonstrated in the past. Misinformation, hysteria, and hidden agendas of some groups and individuals have clouded the issue to the point that deer farmers feel under seige. Truth is on the side of the deer farmer. Unfortunatly that may not be enough. 

We need to keep our heads on this issue. If we scare people unnecesarily with incorrect information, we may lose hunters---and that is a very very bad thing for so many different reasons. Anti-hunting groups seek to appeal to emotion and not rationality to further their goals. Lets not fall into that trap.


----------



## EdB (Feb 28, 2002)

Until there is a proven method to test wild animals for CWD, we should not take any chances and take the conservative approach to protecting the wild deer herd in MI. The ban on importing cervids into the state should remain and be rigorously enforced. In addition, all game farms should be double fenced to protect wild animals from contact and lesson chances for escape. The notion of hunting fenced in game is warped to begin with. Regulation of game farms should be moved back to the DNR because they have better resources for enforcement then the Ag dept. While this may be harsh for deer ranches, it is in the best interest of majority of citizens in MI. This could actually create more opportunities for MI deer farmers by creating more demand for in state breeding programs.


----------

