Not too far from my stomping grounds which was already in DMA 3 but...
Excerpt from the press release:
CWD FOUND IN THE WILD IN CLEARFIELD COUNTY
HARRISBURG, PA - Chronic wasting disease has spread to free-ranging deer in an area of the state where it previously had been detected only in captive deer.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission today announced a free-ranging whitetail buck in Bell Township, Clearfield County, has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).
A news conference about the new CWD-positive deer and the Game Commission’s response will be held on Thursday, July 13, at noon at the Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters. The news conference will be available to view on the Game Commission’s social media pages.
The CWD-positive buck was shot by a wildlife conservation officer June 7 on State Game Lands 87 because it showed signs of being diseased. Preliminary tests indicated the buck was CWD-positive, and the final results confirm the buck was infected with CWD, which always is fatal to deer and elk.
The buck was within Disease Management Area 3 (DMA 3), which was established in 2014 after surveillance by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture detected CWD at two captive deer facilities in Jefferson County.
Because this buck was located near the center of the 350-square-mile DMA 3, the DMA will not need to expand.
Imagine your grave on a windy winter night. You've been dead for 70 years. It's been 50 since a visitor last paused at your tombstone..... Now explain why you're in a pissy mood today.
It's all over Texas too... best chance to end the disease is to shoot them all!
Sorry- but that's NOT the answer. Not from jwall but Colorado, & Arkansas. The prions are IN the ground already ! scavengers, coyotes, coons (RAcoons that is), buzzards, et.al. pick up, excrete, transmit however and the BEAT goes on.
The best plan is 'attempt' to confine... but some critters can not be contained.
Extermination of 'cervids' will not solve the problem.
banning wildlife feeding would help. these people who pile up corn and feed/salt blocks are the ones causing the spread. too much concentration in a small spot.
banning wildlife feeding would help. these people who pile up corn and feed/salt blocks are the ones causing the spread. too much concentration in a small spot.
Did you ever look at the tracks under a good acorn tree in the early fall? miles
Deer are pretty communal animals, any good food/ water spot will concentrate them especially within the higher density areas like the Texas hill country Tons of browse and not nearly enough hunting pressure more get killed by bumpers than bullets I bet in some areas.
Some people want to place the blame for everything on bait piles, but the truth is, they don't know what to do about CWD. In fact they know very little about it. They have some theories that may be correct but they are still unproven. I hear that the brains in Colorado turned it loose in the wild to see what it did, way back. When we got Elk from them is probably where it came from in Arkansas. Could be from tame deer that people had before that became illegal, but most likely from the elk. miles
I'm in Arkansas and everyone wants to think it came from the elk. It may have.but the states to the North of us already had CWD in their wild deer herds. Crows and buzzards hit every dead deer that hits the ground. And they move the prions around. I don't think there is any realistic way to contain it, as long as migrating scavengers can spread it. It will spread south eventually all the way to the coast. I've read a bit about the disease when it was documented in AR. The Prions are very resilient and can survive time and burning. My guess is it is here to stay.
As mentioned many times, Pa at one time had an overpopulated Deer herd, and the county in question was one of them. Fields of 200 Deer could be spotted and the Deer were concentrated. When winters were bad some individuals did extensive feeding that concentrated them further. CWD wasn't a problem. So how did it get here? My mind says it was introduced. If so the question is who, why and how?
Those who implicate bait piles are ignoring or don't know the history of Deer populations in Pa.
One would be inclined to believe that it either showed up via brought in, fenced animals, reintroduction critters or it's one of those naturally occurring things.
I also have to question birds. I figure that birds will eventually be the death of us.
Can birds, say crows or buzzards, 'carry it', have the spores in their crap from eating infected critters, drop turd in a next door state and now the disease is there?
I have no idea about that, but one would think it's possible, but again I have now idea about CWD.
I think it is possible. Lots of fish disease in fish farms comes from birds, and some have to pass through a bird before it will get in the fish. Lots of fish raised for bait here, and birds are a big problem for them. miles
CWD transmission, via the intrastate shipments of "farmed" deer and elk, is certainly somewhat responsible for much of the spread of CWD.
When CWD was first documented in PA, it was found at several "deer farms" in York and Adams counties (both near the MD border). Try as they might, never did sort out where all of those captive deer from those affected areas, actually wound up. Fair to figure that many of those deer were scattered about the country, before anyone knew for sure there were CWD concerns? Much of that is due to lax oversight of the PA Dept. of Agriculture's poor management of deer farm operations.
Game Commission long had jurisdiction over farmed cervids in PA. That ended years ago, when the legislature gave jurisdiction to AG, mostly because cervid farmers complained about too much oversight and too many inspections. Draw your own conclusions.
If three or more people think you're a dimwit, chances are at least one of them is right.