# "Special Feature: The Quiet Spread of CWD" Field a



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

http://fieldandstream.blogs.com/news/20 ... ature.html


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Excellent info


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Dick

People are scratching their head wondering how this disease is being spread so quickly when deer don't travel that far in any one year period. They also are puzzled by the fact that it can skip a few hundred miles then a diseased animal shows up. The answer is by truck. Selling, buying, and trading diseased animals. If you have an animal that doesn't look good sell it at a bargain price to someone out of state. Loose your records and ship the animal in the dark of night.


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## Acer (Aug 17, 2007)

Think of CWD like mad cow. Though they have not linked the two it is thought that CWD is a similar infection. It's not caused by bacteria or a virus. Do to this it is hard to trace animals and areas that can have it. Also they do not know yet if CWD can be transmitted to people. Mad Cow though can, and once caught there is no cure for it. Mad Cow is and sheep shivers (as it is known) is caused by a pyron. A pyron is nothing more then a protein that has been folded wrong...that's right, it's not a mutation or any other oddity just folded wrong. It is thought that, for example, when a cow eats animal protein, the stomach which is almost void of the enzymes to break down animal protein, causes this folding to occur. It is not known why but this pyron moves from the digestive system to the brain. These proteins then for some unknown reason destroy brain tissue. Brains of Cows, sheep, and humans who have had mad cow have had virtually holes in their brain from it. Studies at the turn of the century in islands in the Pacific found a human type mad cow (mad human disease) of a group of islands that had a ritual of eating the brain of their dead relatives. It was also studied in sheep that consumed a type of sheep byproduct and developed the shakes (shivers) until they could no longer stand or keep any sort of bodily functions. They are still doing massive studies on CWD and if it is linked to a pyron, mad cow, and if it is transferable from deer like animals to people. Results so far have shown no, it does not. Also to date no human CWD linked deaths have occurred. It is for this reason that this is being watched so closely. Another problem is deer and elk hurds that are raised in captivite. We all have heard that a raised animal can bring a super bug to wild animals but it is also thought that CWD can be transmitted from animals that appear healthy then are taken to other states only to have it spread there. I'm not sure how many states to date have found CWD but here in ND we are CWD free so far. As Plainsman said, a lot of "dark of night" shipping is going on with some of these animals. I had read about a deer rancher in Wisconsin (I think it was there anyways) that had or though on of his animals had CWD so the local DNR people came in and paid him for everyone of his animals to be put down and burned. So this guy became a millionaire right then and their and does not have to worry about his deer herd anymore. This sparked the question about how many shady ranchers out there will purposely try to bring in animals that have CWD to infect their herd just so they can get a big government check.

I should also mention that it is a good idea to take your deer heads to a station that is doing CWD testing. The most important thing here is to keep the deer population safe. CWD can and does decimate their populations and can move to other species thus the concern.

My intentions were not to scare anyone away from eating deer and such, just a little extra info about why this is needed to be looked at very seriously.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

IMO, and with all due respect, Dick should mention that's he's a sponsor of a Ballot Initiative to get High Fence ranches banned in ND. This measure was defeated in the ND Legislature last year. I suspect this post is more about getting support for this attempt than anything else.

Can't we just talk deer hunting here, and leave the politics on the Hot Topic & Political Forums?...


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## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

IMHO
This is about Deer Hunting. And a big Thank You Dick for posting it here.
It was a long read, but very much worth the read.
NDT maybe you didn't read it thoughly. If not please do so.
We have the best deer herd and deer hunting we have ever had. But when (not if) CWD hits things will change drasticly.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

NDterminator

As a retired wildlife biologist I can tell you people are not taking CWD serious enough. Some people stay away from hot topics and the political form but hunt deer. All deer hunters need to know about this.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

I don't know a deer hunter that isn't aware of CWD and hasn't all ready seen tons of information on it. The point is that this is placed here to further a personal political agenda more so, than as a deer hunting concern.

Why not just be honest and say it up front?...

As a former biologist, you know that disease is a natural part of any living population's existence and that we can't actually prevent CWD or innoculate against it. You also know the only real solution/method to stop it's spread is to kill every last animal in the herd in which it crops up, and every one of every other species in that area that can carry it as well. You know this is not possible, even if it were viable.

Oh yeah, and kill every head of domestic stock in that area too. No one seems to want to do this.

So of course, the solution is to outlaw elk ranches...


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I may be wrong but your staunch support of the elk ranches makes it look like you have some sort of connection. Why else would you object to talking about CWD on the deer form if it wasn't to keep everyone's eyes close? Also, why would you say this is a political agenda? For me CWD is a biological agenda. Artificial range expansion accelerates disease spread.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

I am one of thirty sponsors of an initiarted measure here in ND to ban canned shooting, but not elk or deer ranches as was said above. The post is for educational material and people can choose to read or not.

Personally, I think hunting is about much more than the 30 point buck or the technique for getting the same. I didn't put it in the duck forum because as Michael Vick would say, "they don't have a dog in this fight".


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