Groups Sue To Stop Elk Feeding Fearing CWD. New Live Test For CWD Near
Posted by Tom Remington on June 4, 2008
Earthjustice, on behalf of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Wyoming Outdoor Council and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. to stop the feeding of wild elk at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming. The groups state that continued feeding is inviting an outbreak of chronic wasting disease, which is prevalent in areas as close as 70 miles away. Other diseases are already in existence there.
According to the New York Times, crowding animals together increases the likelihood of spreading disease ten fold.
Wildlife biologists warn that feeding the animals that crowd together at the National Elk Refuge and at 22 other state feeding grounds in Wyoming is likely to worsen any outbreak of chronic wasting disease. Conditions at feed lots increase disease rates up to 10 times those found in the wild because diseases are passed rapidly among animals in close contact.
Much of the actions and reactions of biologists toward chronic wasting disease come even though there is a lot about the disease that is unknown or misunderstood. As an example of that, the New York Times article states that killing animals stops the spread of the disease.
Discovered in a Colorado research facility in the 1960s, chronic wasting disease has forced biologists to kill hundreds of infected wild deer from Wisconsin to Wyoming and thousands of others that are not infected to keep the disease from spreading.
Perhaps misstated here, authorities have killed the animals thinking it would help but the evidence this is true is debatable. In Colorado, the practice of killing animals was called off after efforts showed little if any affect to the spreading of the disease. In Wisconsin, killing continues but many there don’t believe it is helping at all and is quite costly.
Much remains unexplained about the disease which doesn’t help in being able to do anything constructive to stop the spread. It is believed now that whatever is responsible for the transmission of the disease remains in the soil in infected areas for years. Some research indicates that the disease may be transmitted through feed, like hay, harvested in areas where the soil in contaminated. Some scientists also believe that CWD occurs naturally.
In the meantime, some good news reported from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Colorado State University. Researchers say they have developed a test for chronic wasting disease that can be done on live animals and results appear to be as good or even better than the existing tests done on the brain tissue of dead animals. This of course would be a huge step forward in being able to detect the disease.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Colorado State University (CSU) recently completed their third year of evaluating and validating the first live rectal-tissue biopsy method for detecting chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive and wild elk. To date, researchers have collected over 1,500 biopsies from captive elk in Colorado and used the technique to find 15 elk that were positive for CWD. As compared to proven post-mortem diagnostic tests, this live test appears to be nearly as accurate.
With a live test, methods can be employed to help prevent the spread of the disease in both captive and wild animals but until science is able to accurately determine what causes CWD and exactly how it is spread, we mustn’t believe this new test is by any means a cure. Only a major step.
Tom Remington
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Yep, might as well let em starve to death out there while running away from wolves. That herd is less than 7000 head now, down from about 17,000 head, brilliant, lets wipe em out all the way, lets wipe out hunting any way we can, even if we gotta wipe out the herds to do it.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Tom, I came accross this while updating my hunting liscence, and I believe that it’s about the most comprehensive I’ve seem, yet!
This is a link to a chronic wasting disease video produced by Wyoming fish and game, but in essence, covers almost all aspects of what we know about CWD in deer and other simular abnormalities in cows, sheep, and people. Well worth watching for hunters, and those concerned…simple to understand, but up to date. About thirty minutes to watch…distributed by Florida Fish and Game Commission.
How little we know! Everyone knows what bacteria are and viruses, but how about a prion…? Even the scientists are stumped. check it out:
http://www.myfwc.com/cwd/CWDVideo.htm
June 5th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I’ve seen that video before and while I would still encourage people to view it, it should be said that this was put together in 2002 and much has changed since then.
I found it interesting that they state that little is certain about what causes the disease, how it is spread, etc., yet they were very quick to make leaps of assumptions when it came to spreading the disease.
Since this was put together, much evidence now points toward transmission being caused through ingestion. This being the case, what isn’t being addressed perhaps in a sufficient manner is tracking and controlling where feed comes from.
For those interested, there is also this website - http://www.stopcwd.org/ - where you can go and read more about the disease and how it relates to something called “Spiroplasma”. Very interesting and seems to make sense as well, of course this coming from a layman. Worth the time and research I think.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] this month in a story about groups suing to stop the feeding of wild elk at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming, I also reported [...]
June 14th, 2008 at 9:00 am