# DNR attempting new TB testing method



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

DNR attempting new TB testing method

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is in the process of testing a procedure that may prove to be a powerful weapon in eradicating bovine tuberculosis in deer.

The procedure involves trapping deer, testing them for bovine tuberculosis, releasing deer that test negative and killing deer that test positive.

Testing began on Jan. 8 and will conclude in late February or early March.

http://www.thealpenanews.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3635


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

New project tests deer for TB 

http://www.record-eagle.com/2007/feb/11deer.htm (see photo)

02/11/07 BY SHERI McWHIRTER [email protected]

HILLMAN  A truck rolled to a stop, two federal wildlife officials jumped out and raced through fresh snow to collapse a mesh trap set on private land in Montmorency County, where a fresh capture began to stir.

It's not how most people hunt deer, but these men weren't interested in a fresh kill: they wanted to test the animal for bovine tuberculosis.

"When you get a deer in a trap, obviously you want to get them out as soon as possible, said Stephen Schmitt, wildlife veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Service is partnering with the state DNR to live-trap and test deer in the area where bovine TB is now a "self-sustaining disease in the deer herd, Schmitt said.

Northeastern Lower Michigan is the only place in the country with that claim for a wildlife population, he said.

"This is a very big issue for the state, not just for agriculture, but for natural resources, said Peter Butchko, state director for the USDA Wildlife Services, while out with a field crew testing for the disease.

He said it not only spreads through the deer population, but also transfers back-and-forth with local agricultural stock. About 40 local cattle herds were stricken since 1998.

The purpose of a new pilot project to live trap and test deer for bovine TB is to locate and reduce the disease among the wild herd. If captured animals test negative, they are released. Those found to be positive are killed.

USDA Wildlife Service officials Pat Ryan, a biologist, and J.D. Freye, a disease biologist, worked quickly to calm a captured doe Friday morning, covering her head with a towel and holding her firmly to the ground.

They often re-catch deer grown familiar with a free meal of corn, but this was a new animal that had not yet been tested. Ryan shaved some fur from the doe's ear and drew some blood into a syringe.

Freye kept the animal still while Ryan completed a new field blood test for bovine TB. Ten minutes later, the test showed the deer was clear of the disease, so it was tagged and released.

About two percent of the herd is likely infected in the area, when a decade ago it was five percent, Schmitt said.

Officials set and check 100 traps every day from January to March, finding three positive deer so far.


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## Fierkej (Dec 21, 2001)

Hi,
There is more on this new strategy. There is a link to the .pdf document about half way down this webpage.
http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25804_25811-75930--,00.html
Jean


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## trout (Jan 17, 2000)

> Over a 2-month trapping period, 119 individual deer were live-trapped, blood
> sampled, fitted with a radio-collar, and released. A total of 31 of these deer were
> subsequently classified as Tb-suspect by at least one of five blood tests employed
> (however there was a low level of agreement among tests). A delay in testing meant that
> ...


I'm confused.
Are they saying that one deer out of 119 was positive?
And 31 were Tb suspect but later cleared?


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

MAPIA (MultiAntigen Print ImmunoAssay) specific antibody detection in tuberculosis. Using selected antigens, a lateral flow test was developed for rapid antibody detection in multiple species. The test can use serum, plasma, or whole blood and provides results within 15 minutes. Sounds like a winner. Oddly enough, the one culture positive deer tested negative on the Rapid Test (p. 8, Evaluation of a new strategy for control of bovine TB in Michigan w-tail deer) (THERE WERE 13 POSITIVE RAPID TESTS, ALL CULTURED NEGATIVE) !!


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

$96,000 TO TEST 130 DEER =$736.46 TO TEST 1 DEER
$96,000 TO FIND 1 DEER W/BOVINE TB
Veterinary practitioners are paid $10 a head to test cattle for TB
Deer were captured 248 times- 118 were recaptures


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## cliffd (Jun 25, 2006)

sadocf1 said:


> $96,000 TO TEST 130 DEER =$736.46 TO TEST 1 DEER
> $96,000 TO FIND 1 DEER W/BOVINE TB
> Veterinary practitioners are paid $10 a head to test cattle for TB
> Deer were captured 248 times- 118 were recaptures


This is a mind-numbing waste of our limited funds. They would be better off spending that money (and crop damage money) to build 12' high fences around all the cattle farms where the percentage of TB infestations have (statistically) skyrocketed.

Oh hell, forget using common sense. You can just pay me $96k to trap deer.


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

MDNR is not funding the experiment. USDA APHIS Wildlife Services is conducting and funding the experiment. Michigan has cut $1,000,000 from the budget for TB and CWD TESTING IN WILDLIFE. FOR THIS YEAR AND NEXT.
We do not have an effective live animal test for TB. PERIOD
Hopefully someday maybe. Same for an effective vaccine


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

Using current data it would take 50 years and cost $10,000,000 to test all the wild deer in DMU 452


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

cliffd said:


> This is a mind-numbing waste of our limited funds. They would be better off spending that money (and crop damage money) to build 12' high fences around all the cattle farms where the percentage of TB infestations have (statistically) skyrocketed.
> 
> Oh hell, forget using common sense. You can just pay me $96k to trap deer.


I'm wondering how much thought you put into your post. Research is expensive. It seems unlikely that the % of deer with TB is going to drop much more unless something different is tried. I don't think that the hunters in the TB area are going to reduce the herd much more. 
If an effective, quick test can be found to detect TB in live deer then we have a chance to reduce the rate. A vaccine, maybe.....seems to much to hope for.
Only research can determine this. 
What happens if this research proves successful ?
Obviously, DNR employees can not be the ones doing the trapping & testing. Volunteers would be needed. I think a lot of hunters/landowners & the large hunter clubs would be willing to go through the training necessary to become authorized to do the trapping/testing. They would also need to be authorized to kill a postive animal on the spot and then would likely need to submit that animal & test to the DNR. A colored ear tag can be used to determine if the animal has already been test in a certain year. Removing the old tag and replacing it with a new tag would be needed each year that the animal is tested.
I would think that the DNR would need to provided all of the traps & testing materials......it will still be somewhat expensive. I can see groups like Whitetails Unlimited helping fund this type of project and maybe helping the volunteers to purchase the feed/bait that would be needed. 
Do you really think building high fences around entire farmers fields makes sense ? Perhaps if you had said building a high fence with a gate around an area where the farmers can store their hay outside as is commonly done.......that you have indicated that you had put some thought into your post.

L & O


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## sadocf1 (Mar 10, 2002)

The federal Wildlife Service has been fencing in hay-storage areas.
Anybody remember when TURTLE LAKE club was attempting to build a deer proof fence around their property at their own expense ?
We are building a fence a thousans






































































































































































































































































































































We are building over a thousand miles of fence on our Mexican border.
Anybody remember when TURTLE LAKE Club started building a deer proof fence around their property at their own expense ? The DNR got a court order requiring them to leave openings so the deer could migrate to and from the farming areas.
The federal Wildlife Service has been building fence around hay storage areas


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