Post by jjas on Aug 7, 2017 12:45:15 GMT -5
Chronic Wasting Disease: Lack of True Control Taking Away Hunters Rights
Editor's Note: The following Op-Ed was written by Craig Alderman, Executive Director of the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc.
If this were a dance contest, the soft stepping and swirling spin would make Hollywood envious. CWD in cervids (the deer family), when allowed to escape to the wild herds is not only killing the deer, elk or mule deer, now it is taking away the hunter's constitutional right for the "pursuit of happiness". We need to hold our legislators accountable for a blind eye to the facts and now the growing economic harm it is inflicting on small town stores and even larger chain stores. Why?
Since states have not addressed the real problem and known source of CWD, captive cervids, they take away the rights and benefits hunters have enjoyed for generations.
Here is my opinion on the source and reason of CWD as a biologist. It was discovered in the 1960s in a herd of captive mule deer. It was never identified in the wild up to that date. CWD is a bending of a genetic prion for reasons yet unknow. The prion cannot be tested for in live animals, cannot be stopped, cannot be treated and spreads quickly by touch, saliva, urine, and water. Research has shown an area contaminated with CWD carries the deadly disease for up to 50 years or more in the soil. The result is always death of the cervid.
My opinion, nature has rules, cross breeding of certain animals results in sterile off spring. Why, it was not meant to be, man did it. Deer are created and meant to eat certain wild foods, their digestive system was built by our creator for it. Not high doses of minerals, treated feed and other additives. Nature knows it is not right and, in my opinion, caused the prion as a reaction to a dramatic and extreme change in diet.
High fence operations want or create over mineralized and selectively fed bucks to sell as trophy wild deer in so called hunting operations. These deer are no longer wild, they are penned deer, livestock whose only desire is to find the feed bucket and water. Ethical hunters do not shoot livestock.
So as CWD spreads in most states, legislators are blinded by the call of "helping the little farmer" and a well- funded lobbyist group. So how are the wildlife managers dealing with it, they are restricting ethical hunters, landowners and at the same time taking away sales traditional to the industry. How?
They are killing every deer around the penned deer when CWD is discovered. Make no mistake it is spreading. Hunters stay away from all areas of CWD contamination, land values crash, land leases or purchases nearly stop.
They are restricting or stopping the use of feeders, salt licks, or minerals placed in the wild. They say any congregation of deer will spread it. One of the recommended techniques of professional deer management is early recording by placing food sources on the ground, so are agencies and organizations exempting themselves?
Now, some states are beginning to eliminate the use of scents and lures containing any cervid urine and many more are considering it. In Arkansas, all scents and lures are now banned. How many millions of sales dollars does that now remove from sales revenue and tax revenue?
So now, economically we are taking sales dollars away, and of course sales tax money without any, any actions to control the source, the real threat, the captive deer pens. Take away the "pursuit of happiness" in hunting accessories and the true down fall of deer hunting begins.
What is next? Fencing off farm ponds and streams so deer cannot drink? How stupid are we going to be?
Two things need to happen, the state's legislators need to control and restrict penned deer operations with much better double fencing, restriction of transport and if they claim they are livestock, which they are, they cannot be used for any hunting operation or venue, period and should have ear tags. Ag departments do not test for deer diseases, only bovine diseases, wildlife managers do. Until research can catch up there is a huge potential our wild deer herd could be wiped out as we know it today. Insurance policies need to be in place to so if the CWD identified penned operation is closed down, the land is not sold or used but kept fenced and quarantined so contamination is controlled until science finds the answers needed.
Without a viable test for CWD while the deer is alive, active urine gathering of pen deer is a problem. Having once been in that industry, we searched long and hard for a solution to remove sexually transmitted diseases (STD) from the urine that can affect humans. I believe the only two brands that have the additive are Tink's 69 and Code Blue. NONE have any ability to stop CWD and it will be a growing problem.
No longer is an NRA endorsement enough for legislative candidates, an endorsement of "Fair Chase" and "Free Range" hunting of wild cervids must be initiated. Ethical hunters must stop paying huge sums for high fenced shooting of penned deer with antlers raised on farms, these are livestock not free ranging, wild deer. Again, hunters do not shoot livestock.
Several organizations are trying to put together a "Fair Chase, Free Range" message for ethical hunting. So far it seems to be about gathering dollars from larger companies. There needs to be a united front, one leading organization to have the shield and the sword and one that all, all organizations and individuals are respected for supporting at any level possible. So far, that is not the case.
-- Craig A. Alderman, Executive Director, Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc.
Editor's Note: The following Op-Ed was written by Craig Alderman, Executive Director of the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc.
If this were a dance contest, the soft stepping and swirling spin would make Hollywood envious. CWD in cervids (the deer family), when allowed to escape to the wild herds is not only killing the deer, elk or mule deer, now it is taking away the hunter's constitutional right for the "pursuit of happiness". We need to hold our legislators accountable for a blind eye to the facts and now the growing economic harm it is inflicting on small town stores and even larger chain stores. Why?
Since states have not addressed the real problem and known source of CWD, captive cervids, they take away the rights and benefits hunters have enjoyed for generations.
Here is my opinion on the source and reason of CWD as a biologist. It was discovered in the 1960s in a herd of captive mule deer. It was never identified in the wild up to that date. CWD is a bending of a genetic prion for reasons yet unknow. The prion cannot be tested for in live animals, cannot be stopped, cannot be treated and spreads quickly by touch, saliva, urine, and water. Research has shown an area contaminated with CWD carries the deadly disease for up to 50 years or more in the soil. The result is always death of the cervid.
My opinion, nature has rules, cross breeding of certain animals results in sterile off spring. Why, it was not meant to be, man did it. Deer are created and meant to eat certain wild foods, their digestive system was built by our creator for it. Not high doses of minerals, treated feed and other additives. Nature knows it is not right and, in my opinion, caused the prion as a reaction to a dramatic and extreme change in diet.
High fence operations want or create over mineralized and selectively fed bucks to sell as trophy wild deer in so called hunting operations. These deer are no longer wild, they are penned deer, livestock whose only desire is to find the feed bucket and water. Ethical hunters do not shoot livestock.
So as CWD spreads in most states, legislators are blinded by the call of "helping the little farmer" and a well- funded lobbyist group. So how are the wildlife managers dealing with it, they are restricting ethical hunters, landowners and at the same time taking away sales traditional to the industry. How?
They are killing every deer around the penned deer when CWD is discovered. Make no mistake it is spreading. Hunters stay away from all areas of CWD contamination, land values crash, land leases or purchases nearly stop.
They are restricting or stopping the use of feeders, salt licks, or minerals placed in the wild. They say any congregation of deer will spread it. One of the recommended techniques of professional deer management is early recording by placing food sources on the ground, so are agencies and organizations exempting themselves?
Now, some states are beginning to eliminate the use of scents and lures containing any cervid urine and many more are considering it. In Arkansas, all scents and lures are now banned. How many millions of sales dollars does that now remove from sales revenue and tax revenue?
So now, economically we are taking sales dollars away, and of course sales tax money without any, any actions to control the source, the real threat, the captive deer pens. Take away the "pursuit of happiness" in hunting accessories and the true down fall of deer hunting begins.
What is next? Fencing off farm ponds and streams so deer cannot drink? How stupid are we going to be?
Two things need to happen, the state's legislators need to control and restrict penned deer operations with much better double fencing, restriction of transport and if they claim they are livestock, which they are, they cannot be used for any hunting operation or venue, period and should have ear tags. Ag departments do not test for deer diseases, only bovine diseases, wildlife managers do. Until research can catch up there is a huge potential our wild deer herd could be wiped out as we know it today. Insurance policies need to be in place to so if the CWD identified penned operation is closed down, the land is not sold or used but kept fenced and quarantined so contamination is controlled until science finds the answers needed.
Without a viable test for CWD while the deer is alive, active urine gathering of pen deer is a problem. Having once been in that industry, we searched long and hard for a solution to remove sexually transmitted diseases (STD) from the urine that can affect humans. I believe the only two brands that have the additive are Tink's 69 and Code Blue. NONE have any ability to stop CWD and it will be a growing problem.
No longer is an NRA endorsement enough for legislative candidates, an endorsement of "Fair Chase" and "Free Range" hunting of wild cervids must be initiated. Ethical hunters must stop paying huge sums for high fenced shooting of penned deer with antlers raised on farms, these are livestock not free ranging, wild deer. Again, hunters do not shoot livestock.
Several organizations are trying to put together a "Fair Chase, Free Range" message for ethical hunting. So far it seems to be about gathering dollars from larger companies. There needs to be a united front, one leading organization to have the shield and the sword and one that all, all organizations and individuals are respected for supporting at any level possible. So far, that is not the case.
-- Craig A. Alderman, Executive Director, Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation, Inc.
