chicken little,,,,,,,,,,,,NOT

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Officials to test deer for fatal brain disease

Associated Press

CRAIG, Colo. - State wildlife officials have fanned out across northwestern Colorado and are preparing to cull 300 wild deer to learn whether a fatal brain disease has spread.
Two mule deer within the 6,000-acre Motherwell Ranch near Craig have tested positive for chronic wasting disease. Those were the first cases discovered in wild deer west of the Continental Divide.
"We want at least 300 heads for a viable sampling," said Mike Miller, veterinarian for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "We'll concentrate on animals within a five-mile radius of the ranch, and if any prove positive for CWD, we'll expand the circle."
On Monday, state agriculture officials visited the ranch, operated by Western State Outdoors, to deliver a quarantine notice that prohibits the movement of the ranch's remaining 100 domestic elk, even though no elk at the ranch have tested positive.
"Right now we're being extra cautious," said Linh Truong, spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture.
Last fall, Division of Wildlife managers killed 280 deer and about 30 elk after the facility's owner erected a fence for his captive elk and entrapped them.
State policy prohibits the mingling of wild game and domestic animals to limit the spread of diseases such as CWD.
Preliminary lab work performed in Fort Collins last week suggested three of 164 deer for which test results were available had the ailment. Two of those cases have been confirmed. Another 120 samples remain to be tested.
If wasting disease spreads, it could have a devastating impact on communities that rely on money spent by elk and deer hunters, Gov. Bill Owens said last week.
Owens has announced the creation of a chronic wasting disease working group to advise him on strategies against the disease. It was expected to be in place by the end of the week.
Within the past 10 years, chronic wasting disease has infected elk ranches, along with wild deer and elk, in parts of the Great Plains and Rockies.
The fatal contagious illness is related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. It is not known to spread from deer and elk to cattle or people, but scientists say that cannot be ruled out.
No reliable method exists to detect the disease in live animals, so they must be killed for testing.
 
This article is in Sportsmen's Issues. Look at "CWD Spreads...". Pretty amazing!

I'd like to hear from the guys who laughed at posters who warned about CWD a year ago. Where are they now, and are they still laughing?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-03-2002 12:56: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>
 
The article is interesting. It states clearly that the disease is not known to pass from wild game to cattle or humans. It does postulate on the possibility of cattle being a carrier of the disease. Wouldn't it be interesting if cattle carried that disease and passed it along to other ungulates like cow pox is carried to humans through milk and milk products.

:cool:
 
Actually Cali, this is not the same news. This is the first time CWD has been found on the Western Slope of Colorado, where the majority of the deer and elk in the state are found. This discovery was made last Friday.

Oak
 
Yeah, all the cases before have been at farms on the Front Range. I know it's kinda hard for folks who don't live here to get interested in the topic, but it's a huge news story here right now.

Oak
 
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