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By Joy Ufford jufford@pinedaleroundup.com
Posted 12/6/19

Not just a Wyoming concern.

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Posted

Chronic wasting

disease, or CWD, is known to be fatal

mainly to mule deer in Wyoming but concentrated

efforts to educate a wider audience

reveal a much more widespread problem –

white-tailed deer are dying from it as well.

Many eastern and midwestern states with

CWD have native white-tailed deer herds

along with “captive” cervids at agricultural

game farms, the Senate Committee on Environment

and Public Works learned Wednesday

from three witnesses. Chairman Sen.

John Barrasso welcomed Wyoming Game

and Fish Director Brian Nesvik who touted

his agency and its recent CWD Working

Group process. See the related article on

page 3.

Wyoming working group

On Monday, Dec. 2, Wyoming Game

and Fish hosted a public meeting in Pinedale

for comments and questions about its CWD

Working Group’s recommendations and recent

revision of the state’s 2016 management

plan. The 149-page draft CWD plan was released

Monday, giving attendees little time

to preview it.

With Pinedale their closest Game and

Fish meeting this week, people drove in from

Jackson, LaBarge, Dubois and from around

Sublette County. Many were on the task force

that met earlier this year to gather input and

form recommendations by consensus. Nesvik

appointed 32 people including alternates to

be on the team, with Jessica Western leading

the collaborative process based on consensus.

Deputy Chief of Wildlife Scott Edberg

and Casper Public Information Officer Janet

Milek, also on the working group, ran the

Dec. 2 meeting in Western’s weather-related

absence. The group produced 40 recommendations

and seven “with major reservations,”

Milek said. She referred to the draft plan’s

Appendix C to show how Game and Fish

administration incorporated almost all the

recommendations and for those it didn’t, the

reasoning.

Game and Fish’s tissue-sample tests, both

voluntary and controlled, show “prime” buck

mule deer are more likely than does to get

the always fatal disease. Pronghorn apparently

do not get CWD unless deliberately

reinfected in experiments and all elk are less

likely to test positive. Very rarely, cases have

been found in moose.

Feedgrounds – later

The CWD Working Group did not address

Game and Fish’s 22 winter elk feedgrounds,

where no CWD is yet detected. Officials said

Monday a new working group formed in the

near future will study the “divisive” topic.

First, officials will decide if the same

working group process could apply to

feedground management, which “would be

much more involved,” said Jackson’s Brad

Hovinga, possibly even site-specific. “We

want to be successful so we want to make

sure to have the best approach.”

He said of the draft plan, “Feedgrounds are

largely not addressed. We felt the feedground

issue is big enough and complex enough to

require a process of its own.”

Artificial hotspots

The first recommendation is that “Game

and Fish takes action to reduce artificial

concentrations.” Some members had “major

reservations” but most agreed the Wyoming

Legislature should give Game and Fish

authority to regulate “intentional private

feeding of wild cervids unless otherwise

specified.” Consensus was reached for it to

“collaborate at local levels to reduce artificial

points of wild cervid concentration” and

work with local constituencies to eliminate

artificial feeding and reduce densities.

“Building and maintaining public support

is going to be very, very key for us,” said Edberg

of specific decisions that might arise as

management strategies are developed.

However, the group disagreed and did not

reach consensus about having public stakeholders

help evaluate feedgrounds – but that

did move to Game and Fish and is included

in the draft plan.

The possibility exists for hunters or staff

“culling” infected mule deer in a certain area,

according to Casper Disease Management

Supervisor Justin Binfet.

“(The plan) stresses over and over that

management actions we are looking at undertaking

here are going to be based on the

best available data,” he said. “We have to implement

strategies over the long term because

the progression of this disease is so slow.”

“Unnatural concentrations” or “hotspots”

of deer occur in parks, golf courses, private

land and “agricultural operations are probably

the most common form of artificial cervid

concentration,” Binfet said.

Another “no consensus” was to study

wildlife underpasses, overpasses, water holes

and feedgrounds for increasing prevalence.

It is incorporated into the draft plan for field

studies.

Education, disposal

Hunters are an essential tool to reduce

CWD prevalence in mule deer with possible

changes in hunting seasons or increased harvests

of mature bucks or does. Hunters are

advised of the potential dangers of CWD prions,

which can live in soil for 13 years and

grow with forage.

Game and Fish requires hunters to stop at

check stations so biologists can remove appropriate

samples to test at the state wildlife

laboratory; hunters are then notified up to

two weeks later if their animal had CWD.

Hunters are advised to wear rubber gloves

when harvesting animals that appear sick, although

most animals do not show signs of

CWD until near death. They’re advised to

not handle brain and spinal cord tissues and

to consider freezing the meat until CWD test

results are returned.

A new precaution is for hunters to

CWD – not just a Wyoming problem

Joy Ufford photo

Lat Straley of Pinedale asks the Wyoming Game and Fish team about the draft

CWD plan.

By Joy Ufford

jufford@pinedaleroundup.com

CWD

Continued from 1A

disinfect all steel – knives, saws or blades

– because CWD prions cling to the utensils

unless bathed in a 40-percent bleach solution

for at least five minutes.

The abnormal prions’ longevity cause

concerns for carcass disposal as well. Prions

are not killed by temperatures under 1,700º

Fahrenheit, nor by freezing.

But at this time, no humans have reported

to be stricken with CWD.

Regulatory

With state vehicles picking up roadkill and

hunters dumping carcasses usually at landfills,

Game and Fish, other state agencies,

solid waste operators and county commissioners

meet in Casper on Dec. 17 to search

for solutions.

Wyoming has strict laws about transporting,

exporting or importing harvested cervids

but does not require hunters to submit sample

tissues, leaving it voluntary. Game and Fish

does not plan to offer refunds or new tags for

hunters with a CWD-infected animal under

the draft plan.

After public comments are reviewed, the

Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will

vote on the Draft Wyoming Game and Fish

Chronic Wasting Disease Plan at its March or

April meeting.

To comment

Public comment is accepted through Sunday,

Jan. 15, and people are asked to write

out and submit them by mail or email. For

more information or to comment, visit https://

wgfd.wyo.gov/get-involved/cwd-workinggroup.