Quote:
Originally Posted by walking buffalo
Well over 50% infection rate in some areas.... Several new cases in the last year where game farms tested positive.... Sask gov under pressure of lawsuits from game farmers and the shear magnitude of the problem has decided to end surveillance and become a "control" jurisdiction for research on what happens when no CWD suppression efforts are made.
The Feds nearly got away with delisting CWD as a reportable disease last Oct. Agricultural interests were lobbying for the delisting. Health organizations were successful in keeping CWD listed.
Some agriculture interests are now promoting that the only way to maintain CWD free areas is to eliminate the wildlife, and they are willing to be the sole source of your deer and elk. 
New research that CWD prions can be absorbed by agricultural plants has put a whole new spin on this issue. Agriculture is trying to suppress the information, international bodies are questioning the future of importing crops from CWD infected areas. It's a whole new ball game now....
For the trophy hunters. 6% infection rate for tested male mule deer.
At this rate, CWD is killing a significant portion of bucks before they have a chance to mature.... |
Request for Commitments by Leaders
Regarding Chronic Wasting Disease
For Immediate Release
April 29, 2015
CWD: A Threat to Wildlife and Our Agricultural Markets
Alberta's 2014 data confirm that chronic wasting disease (CWD)-a 100% fatal deer version of 'mad cow disease'-is continuing its lethal march across the province. This highly contagious threat to wildlife was imported into Canada through the flawed policy to commercialize wildlife on game farms.
Human health risk is thought to be very low, however that was also the case for BSE or mad cow disease that did cross to people from infected beef, causing a rapid, incurable dementia. Experts do not know if CWD could behave in people as highly contagious (as it is in deer), but such a scenario is described as a nightmare.
But where that risk is uncertain and extremely unlikely, leading science has now confirmed a dire and very certain threat to North America's agriculture markets. Leading labs have shown that CWD can be taken up into, or deposited onto, plants-including agricultural crops-that have been shown to transmit the disease to susceptible animals.
This not only presents significant risk of further transfer of CWD to wildlife in North America, but to other species proven susceptible, including many species of Europe, Asia, and other areas into which North American agricultural products are being sold.
Even discussion of prospects for global spread of CWD could lead to trade restrictions, threatening North America's agricultural markets-that will then demand the destruction of wildlife.
These biological and economic threats are real and growing, yet testing and research is being cut, and across North America, thousands of CWD-infected deer are being eaten every year. Meanwhile, the flawed policy to allow and promote game farming remains.
Therefore we are asking all Alberta leaders for:
A written commitment for an immediate, complete and comprehensive assessment to address this crisis, expressly including the underlying policy to allow the privatization, domestication, and commercialization of wildlife.
Responses are requested by May 1, 2015. Participating organizations, contact information, and details of the request provided in the "Background"section below. Full documentation and further expert references available on request.
Background
Chronic Wasting Disease:the Growing Crisis
It is vital to understand that chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a new pathogen, and that this entire crisis was an introduced and predicted consequence of flawed policy promoting commercial domestication of wildlife. Tests now numbering into the millions prove-beyond any question-that CWD is not an indigenous disease of North American wildlife.
Like mad cow disease that suddenly showed up in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, CWD is an introduced or 'newly emerged'disease. It was first documented in captive mule deer in a research facility in northern Colorado in the 1960s; and while the precise origin is not known, the domestic sheep version called "scrapie"had long been documented in the area.
The deer version is vastly more infectious and persistent than mad cow because CWD is highly contagious-between living animals, or from soil, feed, or other contaminated sources. Infectious, misfolded proteins called "prions"are shed in urine, feces, and saliva for up to a year before any symptoms of what becomes a rapid degeneration and death.
Prions are the most resilient pathogenknown. Antibiotic and anti-viral treatments have no effect, and prions are virtually unaffected by alcohol, strong disinfectants, heat, cold, or even radiation. The disease is always fatal and decomposing carcasses become a 'super-site'as the prions persist in the soil indefinitely.
As with most other diseases, domestication has played a significant role. Since the 1980s, despite biological and economic analyses showing myriad problems and threats of severe and irreversible harm, schemes to exploit 'captive wildlife'for profit were legalized in many states and provinces. Seeking to exploit velvet antler, urine, and live, captive targets for a guaranteed kill, the so-called 'game farming'industry transported thousands of deer and elk-and various diseases and parasites-across the continent.
As scientists had warned, a massive epidemic of tuberculosis on game farms in the 1990s was followed by CWD, that has now been confirmed on 75 game farms in SK and 4 in Alberta. Unsurprisingly, the disease repeatedly spilled over to public wildlife. By 2001, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture declared CWD a State of Emergency.
To date, CWD has spread to 23 U.S. states, 2 provinces, and South Korea (from SK). Scores of highly infected premises are under permanent quarantine at taxpayers'expense-including 20 game farms in SK. Once established CWD continues to grow, spread, persist, and evolve-with no known barriers.
Scientists hope CWD won't jump to people-like mad cow did-and though studies say the risk is very low, it is not zero, and it is evolving. Health authorities advise against consuming CWD-infected material-yet as the problem, the costs, and the threats have grown, many jurisdictions are cutting testing and research. Thousands of CWD-infected animals are now being eaten every year in North America. "Nightmare scenarios"of the disease emerging as contagious in people as it is in deer are all but unthinkable described as untestable, untreatable, and unstoppablewhere tens of millions of people would die. Scientists are holding their breath, but not their concern. Health Canada's top prion scientist admits being "worried," saying "the threat is far from negligible."
Even without a "contagious"manifestation, history and all economic evidence indicates that any confirmed transfer to even a single person would imply devastating costs-well into the hundreds of $billions.
But where that threat is uncertain and even extremely unlikely, leading science is now establishing a solid basis for a looming and all but certain economic nightmare:
Leading labs have shown that CWD can be taken up into, or deposited onto plants from feces, urine, or saliva. These tests specifically included agricultural crops (barley, corn, wheat, alfalfa, and tomatoes-every plant studied).
Scientists have confirmed prion uptake into the roots, and transfer to aerial tissues-stems, leaves, potentially the seeds or even pollen. Tests also show that plants exposed to urine and feces from infected deer remain infectious despite the plants being thoroughly washed. In all cases, the presence of prions was confirmed, and infectivity proven in susceptible animals. This not only presents significant risk of transferring CWD to wildlife in North America, but potentially to red deer, sika deer, reindeer, moose, muntjac deer, voles, cats, etc., native to Europe, Asia, and other areas into which North American agricultural products are being sold.
Domestic diseases have repeatedly been transferred to wildlife, and this has led, routinely, to the destruction of wildlife to protect agricultural interests-regardless of agriculture's role in causing the problem in the first place. Thus the current and growing CWD crisis presents the utterly untenable prospect of agriculture viewing wildlife, not just as a nuisance, but as diseased vermin, shedding infectious prions onto their crops and into their landscapes. Even discussion of potential trade restrictions because of CWD contamination in or on crops could devastate all of North American agriculture. Moreover, government cut backs in testing, control, and precautionary measures only legitimize and exacerbate the threat.
Commitment for immediate assessment and review:
All provincial leaders are called upon to confirm in writing, a solemn commitment to undertake an immediate, complete and comprehensive assessment to address the CWD crisis, expressly including the underlying policy to allow the privatization, domestication, and commercialization of wildlife. Requisite measures include:
•An immediate moratorium on the commercial movement of all potentially CWD-infected tissue, living or dead. The ban must apply to all animals, carcasses, tissues, products, (including velvet and urine) and all potentially infected equipment.
•Planning to be initiated immediately, with funding in place and commencement of the review within six months, to be completed within a year.
•Invitation for the participation of other governments-Canadian, American, and First Nations-and all relevant authorities, scientists and scholars, and all affected interests-including wildlife federations, traditional agriculture, and, substantially, the general public. Testimony must be encouraged; it must not restricted, encumbered, coerced, or secured under duress.
•Within the broad analysis, a primary goal will include development of a Comprehensive CWD Containment or Eradication Strategy-with an accompanying budget to be announced, funded, and completed as soon as possible.
•Accountability demands acknowledgment of the policy and regulatory failures responsible for the introduction of CWD-all costs must accrue accordingly.
•Review must detail all prudent and required measures for effective containment, eradication, and the restoration of the affected ecosystems. Fairness and deterrence require ongoing budget and policy accountability.
Sponsors / Contact:
Alberta Fish and Game Association
Wayne Lowry (403) 894-0297
wayne.lowry@fcc-fac.ca
Hunting for Tomorrow Foundation
Bob Gruszecki (403) 650-2923
robert_gruszecki@ezpost.com
Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation
David Pezderic (306) 227-6847
dpezderic@prairiepride.ca
Ermineskin Nation
Brian Lee (780) 360-9173
brian@ermineskin.ca
Piikani Nation
Troy Knowlton (403) 524-1682
troy.k@piikanination.com
__________________________________________________ __________________
Dr. Valerius Geist, Professor Emeritus -University of Calgary
kendulf@shaw.ca
Dr. Vince Crichton, Co-chair -Canada's National Wildlife Disease Strategy
(204) 663-9970
doc.moose@shaw.ca
Darrel Rowledge, Author -No Accident: Public Policy and CWD in Canada
(403) 284-5927
drowledge@psrinc.ca
Don Hayden, Past President -Canadian Wildlife Federation
(403) 627-1733
haydendon@telus.net
Wow nice read dmcbride ..
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