Date: 12 Apr 2002 11:25
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Trib / AP [edited]
<http://www.trib.com/HOMENEWS/STATE/DeerDisease.html>
Mule deer shot near Gering tests
positive for wasting disease
GERING, Neb. - A 2-year-old female mule deer has tested
positive for chronic wasting
disease (CWD). The animal was shot 4 miles southeast
of Gering by a Nebraska Game and Parks conservation officer on 25 Mar
2002 after a citizen reported a sick deer in the area, said Bruce Morrison,
assistant administrator of the commission's wildlife division.
"This just underscores the importance of our
monitoring and testing program," Morrison said. "And it demonstrates
how necessary it is for citizens to contact the commission if they see any
sick animals in the wild."
Since the 2000 firearm season, 14 wild deer in Nebraska have
tested positive, 3 of which were killed by hunters. The remaining 11 were
taken during several commission culling operations as part of a monitoring
program.
The majority of those were taken within a several-mile
radius of a captive elk ranch in northwest Sioux County. Nearly half of the
deer culled from within the game ranch fences have tested positive for the
disease.
Morrison said there are several captive elk herds in the
Gering area in western Nebraska. However, he said all elk from those herds
have that died or been killed have tested negative for the disease.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)
found in deer and elk. It is closely related to mad cow disease (Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy) and scrapie in sheep. The disease attacks the
central nervous system of infected animals and is always fatal.
Signs include extreme weight loss, excessive salivation, and
listlessness. While the disease appears to spread through animal-to-to animal
contact, it is not known to transmit to humans, livestock or animals other
than deer and elk, the commission said.
It was first identified in research pens at Colorado State
University in the 1960s. Since then, it has been found in wild deer and elk
populations in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, and most recently in
Wisconsin. It also has been found in captive elk herds in Colorado, Kansas,
Nebraska, Montana and Saskatchewan.
Date: 12 Apr 2002
18:44
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Boston.Com / AP [edited]
<http://www.boston.com/dailynews/102/region/State_bans_importation_of_deer:.shtml>
ALBANY, N.Y. - New
York will no longer import deer and elk as a precautionary step to prevent the
introduction of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in animals, state environmental
and agricultural regulators said Friday. The new regulations take effect
immediately.
"By banning the import of deer and elk into the
state, we can reduce the risk of the chronic wasting disease entering New York
and help to prevent our abundant wild deer herds from being exposed to this
deadly disease," said Erin Crotty, commissioner of the state Department
of Environmental Conservation.
More than 400 entities in the state raise nearly 10 000 deer
and elk in captivity and routinely import captive-bred deer and elk from other
states.
Chronic wasting disease is characterized by weight loss in
animals and is always fatal. The disease has been diagnosed in captive members
of the deer family in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Oklahoma and South
Dakota.
There
are no known cases of the disease in New York.
