Chronic wasting disease puts future of deer hunting at stake, doctors tell hunters

by Ben Beversluis | The Grand Rapids Press

WALKER — Nothing less than the preservation of the Michigan deer herd and hunting way of life is at stake in the fight to control chronic wasting disease, state officials told an area crowd Tuesday night.

Because so much is unknown about the disease that damages the brains of deer and ultimately kills them, the state is erring on the side of caution, Department of Natural Resources wildlife veterinarian Steve Schmitt told about 200 people at the West Walker Sportsman’s Club.

The best model for the disease, based on research in western states where it was first found in wild deer populations in 1985 and 1990, projects no significant reduction in populations for the first 25 years but shows a 70 percent decrease in populations the 25 years after that.

“Nobody knows,” Schmitt acknowledged. “But we can’t risk being wrong on this.”

The deer herd is too valuable, hunting is a $500 million a year industry and more than 700,000 people hunt, he pointed out. “We have a rich tradition of deer hunting in our state and we want to pass that along to our children and grandchildren.”

The meeting that held the potential for resentment or even anger was cordial. It also was a carefully controlled forum with questions submitted in writing that saw only a few rare comments or outbursts from the floor. The prevailing mood seemed to be resignation to the situation.

“They applauded us at the end. We didn’t expect that,” said Doug Reeves, assistant chief of the DNR.

DNR and Department of Agriculture officials fielded dozens of written questions. The meeting’s purpose was to explain the disease and the state response, including a ban on all deer baiting and feeding in the Lower Peninsula.

It came after a deer was found to have the disease at a Kent County deer farm — the first case of the contagious illness in Michigan. The state created a response plan after the disease was found in Wisconsin in 2002.

While some questions challenged the state response, others seemed to support it or wonder why more wasn’t being done. But the majority of the questions sought information on how to apply the new rules, which also include restrictions on cleaning and transporting deer from the Kent County surveillance zones.

A question about the penalty for baiting prompted DNR officer Lt. Dean Molnar to note there’s a bigger penalty than possible fines and jail time.  Full Story

DNR Outlines Special Hunting Regulations for Townships in Kent County; Changes to Wildlife Rehabilitation Also Ordered

Contact: Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014
Agency: Natural Resources

The Department of Natural Resources today outlined special deer hunting regulations for the nine townships in the Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance zone in Kent County that will be in place for the fall deer hunting season. Changes also will be made to regulations regarding possession of live cervids, including for wildlife rehabilitation.

These changes are part of the state’s emergency response plan for CWD. On Monday, Aug. 25, the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa confirmed CWD in a deer from a privately owned facility in Kent County.

Under the special hunting regulations, only boned meat, capes and antlers of hunter-harvested deer may be removed from the CWD surveillance zone, which includes Tyrone, Solon, Nelson, Sparta, Algoma, Courtland, Alpine, Plainfield and Cannon townships.

Hunters harvesting wild, free-ranging deer in the surveillance zone shall not remove the carcass or parts of the carcass from the CWD surveillance zone, except for boned meat, antlers attached to a skull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue, and hides. Finished taxidermist mounts also may be removed from the CWD surveillance zone.

The entire carcasses of all hunter-harvested deer from the CWD surveillance zone shall be presented at a DNR check deer check station within 72 hours of harvest. Additional check stations will be established in the surveillance zone to make it more convenient for hunters in the zone. Those locations will be announced prior to the early antlerless hunt on private land scheduled to take place Sept. 18-22 southern Michigan.

At the check stations, DNR staff will remove the deer head and a portion of the neck. During regular deer hunting seasons this fall,hunters may retain the antlers after they have turned over the head at the check station. Hunters outside the surveillance zone in Kent County will be able to retain the carcass as well. Hunters inside the surveillance zone cannot remove the carcass from the zone.

Additionally, the DNR will issue a new wildlife order that will make changes that impact wildlife rehabilitation in Michigan. Under the emergency orders, the possession and transport of any live cervids, including for wildlife rehabilitation, will be prohibited. Cervids include white-tailed deer, elk and moose. All privately owned cervid facilities in the state are already quarantined, meaning no cervids alive or dead may be removed from the facilities.

These regulation changes will be in effect starting Friday, Aug. 29, when DNR Director Rebecca Humphries signs the emergency wildlife orders that outline these special regulations.

The wildlife orders and more information about CWD and the surveillance zone in Kent County are available on the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

The DNR is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural resources
for current and future generations.

DNR: Dying Deer A Mystery

Shawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News

ROCHESTER — Deer are dying along the Clinton River, and the state Department of Natural Resources doesn’t know why. About 20 deer died in a three-week period along a six-mile stretch of the river in Bloomer Park in Rochester. Initial tests by the DNR’s Wildlife Disease Lab show the deer did not have chronic wasting disease or eastern equine encephalitis, two diseases common in Michigan.

“We don’t yet know why the deer are dying,” said DNR spokeswoman Mary Dettloff. “We’ve sent some of the stomach contents and tissue samples to the lab at Michigan State.”

That lab is the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health. Full Story

DNR: Dying deer a mystery.

Deer Farm Industry in Michigan Issues Statement on the Recent Chronic Wasting Disease Case Identified on a Kent County Deer Farm

HILLMAN, Mich., Aug. 29 — In response to recent news about Michigan’s first identified case of chronic wasting disease (CWD), members of the deer farming community have issued the following statement.

With hunting season fast approaching, the tragic incident regarding a CWD positive test for a deer on a Kent County farm understandably has created concern among hunters, outdoor enthusiasts and deer farmers across the great state of Michigan. The deer farming industry in Michigan is committed to preventing the spread of chronic wasting disease and is cooperating fully with both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources to bring a swift and conclusive resolution to this difficult situation.

Michigan’s protocols to handle a chronic wasting disease case are working the way our industry, DNR, and MDA originally conceived them. It should also be noted the farm in question was fully complying with mandatory state regulatory requirements issued by MDA, which is why we remain hopeful that a thorough investigation will reveal this case to be an isolated incident.

The deer farming industry and state officials in Michigan have taken the issue of chronic wasting disease seriously, long before this incident ever occurred. In fact, it is because of our united commitment to testing that this case was even identified in the first place. The Cervid Farmers of Michigan, Michigan Deer and Elk Breeders Association, North American Deer Farmers Association, along with regulatory state agencies continuously work together to make sure deer farms and wildlife in Michigan are CWD free. The recent incident only serves to reaffirm our resolve to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease.

With more than 600 deer farms under quarantine right now, the entire industry is at a standstill. Deer farming, as a regulated alternative livestock industry is a $1 billion industry in Michigan and it is a vital part of the state’s agriculture community.

Every dollar the local agriculture community produces gets used 2.6 times before it leaves those local communities, according to research by the Michigan State University Agriculture Economics Department. This means the $104 million locally-based agriculture industry has an economic impact of $270 million annually for local communities in Michigan. A damaged deer farming industry will have negative repercussions on the state’s agriculture community and the economy as a whole because the longer Michigan’s deer farms are shut down — the greater the financial impact there will be for local communities.

We as an industry are continuing to be cooperative and helpful to ensure this incident did not spread outside our state and federally regulated and secured properties. The deer farming industry is committed to assisting in any way possible to find the cause for the chronic wasting disease case in Kent County, but the industry is asking for a swift resolution to this issue and the lifting of the quarantine on those farms with no connection to the affected farm.

SOURCE North American Deer Farmers Association; Cervid Farmers of Michigan;

Michigan Deer & Elk Breeders Association

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