fishweewee
04-03-2005, 08:00 AM
Crap. :wall:
From: "Jessica Chittenden" <Jessica.Chittenden@agmkt.state.ny.us>
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & MARKETS NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
POSITIVE CASE OF CWD FOUND IN ONEIDA COUNTY DEER
Mandatory Testing Protocols Find CWD in a Captive White-Tailed Doe
The first positive case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in New York State has been confirmed in a white-tailed doe from a captive herd in Oneida County. CWD is a transmissible disease that affects the brain and central nervous system of deer and elk.
There is no evidence that CWD is linked to disease in humans or domestic livestock other than deer and elk.
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a six-year old white-tailed doe that was slaughtered from a captive herd in Oneida County as part of the State's mandatory CWD surveillance and testing protocols. Preliminary tests performed at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University determined the presumptive positive, which was confirmed late yesterday by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has officially quarantined the index herd in which the positive deer was found, and will depopulate and test all deer on the premises. Other herds associated with the index herd have also been quarantined and an investigation has been initiated to find and test any susceptible deer that came into contact with the index herd and to assess the health and environmental risks associated with such establishments. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will conduct intensive monitoring of the wild deer population surrounding the index herd to ensure CWD has not spread to wild deer.
CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of deer and elk. Scientific and epidemiological research into CWD is ongoing. To date, research shows that the disease is typified by chronic weight loss, is always fatal, and is transmissible between susceptible species. CWD has only been found in members of the deer family in North America, which include white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose.
CWD has been detected in both wild and captive deer and elk populations in isolated regions of North America. To date, CWD has been found in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming in the United States, and in Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada.
Establishing the known CWD health status of captive and wild cervid populations is a critical component for controlling CWD. In New York, the responsibility for controlling CWD is shared between the State Department of Agriculture and Markets, DEC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). New York's cooperative, active surveillance program serves as a model for the nation in CWD control.
The State Department of Agriculture and Markets monitors the health and movement of all captive deer and elk for the presence of common livestock diseases, including CWD. In July 2004, the Department initiated the CWD Enhanced Surveillance and Monitoring Program, which requires captive deer and elk herd owners to take various actions, including routine sampling and testing, animal identification and an annual herd inventory. Since the inception of testing for CWD in 2000, 681 captive deer and elk have been tested and found negative for CWD.
DEC issues licenses to individuals who possess, import or sell white-tailed deer. DEC also routinely tests New York's wild deer population. Following the discovery of CWD in Wisconsin, DEC implemented a statewide surveillance program in April 2002 to test wild white-tailed deer for the presence of CWD. Samples are collected and sent to an approved USDA laboratory for analysis. To date, DEC has taken samples from 3,457 wild white-tailed deer, including 40 from the county where the positive deer was found. All samples from wild white-tailed deer have tested to date have been negative for CWD.
DEC will also implement precautionary regulations limiting transportation and possession of whole carcasses and some parts of wild deer taken near the location of the captive herd. These regulations will be similar to those currently in place for importation of carcasses and parts of deer into New York.
DEC has also implemented regulations restricting various activities to help control CWD within the State, including restrictions on the importation of live deer and elk, deer feeding, importation and possession of certain deer parts and carcasses, and transportation of deer and elk carcasses through New York State.
USDA APHIS supports individual State programs by providing funding for CWD prevention and surveillance. USDA APHIS reimburses states conducting CWD testing on their wild and captive cervid population and also provides indemnification dollars for captive herds that must be destroyed due to the presence of CWD.
New York State has 433 establishments raising 9,600 deer and elk in captivity. In the wild, DEC estimates there are approximately one million deer statewide.
###
Jessica A. Chittenden
Director of Communications
NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets
10B Airline Drive, Albany, NY 12235
( 518-457-3136
Deer wasting disease surfaces in state test
1st discovery of neurological ailment in East draws call for calm
By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer Times Union
First published: Friday, April 1, 2005
ALBANY -- A white-tailed deer on an Oneida County farm tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first such case in the East for an illness that has threatened deer and elk in the Midwest and West.
The fact that chronic wasting disease was found in New York could damage the state's venison farming and deer-hunting industries, but state officials said Thursday there was no cause for panic.
The disease was discovered last week in a 6-year-old, white-tailed doe during a state program that randomly tests both wild and farm-raised deer. It was confirmed Wednesday at a federal testing facility in Ames, Iowa.
The animal showed no signs of the illness before it was slaughtered in early March, said Bruce Ache, a state Department of Agriculture and Markets veterinarian.
Chronic wasting disease, a neurological ailment, is part of the same family of illnesses as mad cow disease. There is no evidence, however that people can become ill by eating meat from an animal infected with chronic wasting disease.
"We want to alert people that venison in the state of New York has no potential for harm," said state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello.
State wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said the Oneida County case is cause for a stepped-up testing and eradication effort, but deer are in little danger.
"Even in the places where it's been established, it has not decimated populations by a long shot," Stone said.
Officials would not identify the farm where the deer lived, saying only that the owner had 18 deer, which he sometimes sold as breeding stock. They will be killed and tested. In addition, officials will look closely at six other deer farms that bought deer from the Oneida County farmer. Animals at those farms may also be slaughtered. Farmers are compensated when their deer are killed.
State officials do not yet know whether the deer that tested positive for the disease was imported from another state or born locally.
"We're dealing with the owner and his recollection of the origin," Ache said.
Raising deer for meat, breeding stock or game animals is a growing industry in New York, with at least 200 farms statewide.
"I can make money doing this on a small farm," said Byron Ellis, who has about 100 head at the Alta Crest Red Deer Farm in Oswego County. "You don't have the overhead and the feed bills."
Deer farms can be quite large. Brian and Martha Goodsell raise 2,000 deer for meat at their 400-acre Fallow Hollow Deer Farm in Tioga County. Because the species they raise, European fallow deer, is not believed to be susceptible to wasting disease, Goodsell is not too concerned about the health of their herd. "But people may overreact," he said.
Other New York deer farmers are also worried the Oneida County case will hurt their business.
"That's not good," said Diane Conely, owner of Lomita Deer Farm in Saratoga Springs, upon hearing the news. Conely, who has about a dozen deer that she raises for sale to hunting preserves, also raises fallow deer.
A leading deer farmer in Wisconsin -- which has wrestled with the wasting disease issue in deer both on farms and in the wild since it was discovered in that state in 2002 -- said the biggest problem isn't the disease, but how the government reacts to it.
"The politics and the regulations have had a greater impact than the disease itself," said Gary Nelson, president of the North American Deer Farmers Association.
Wild deer populations are continuing to grow in Wisconsin, Nelson said, but farmers have found it hard to make money because of sharp restrictions on how they can buy and sell breeding stock.
A concern is that chronic wasting disease will spread to wild deer herds. New York requires deer farmers to use game fencing that is about 7 feet high to keep farmed deer from coming into contact with wild herds. Several farmers said those fences work, but a 2003 survey from Wisconsin environmental officials found that at least 436 deer had escaped from the state's farms, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"White-tailed deer can jump over those fences," Conely said. Her deer have escaped only once. "The state of New York vet left the gate open, and our breeder buck ran down the driveway," she said.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected in wild and farm-raised deer and elk populations in 11 states besides Wisconsin: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. It also has been found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.
Scientists don't know how the disease is transmitted among animals.
New York has been randomly testing both farm-raised and wild deer for three years, examining tissue from the brain stems of dead deer. At least 3,500 wild deer have been tested, including 40 in Oneida County. Not one was found to have chronic wasting disease before this month's case.
The state has also restricted where deer can be imported from in order to keep local herds healthy.
Those efforts will be stepped up, said Denise M. Sheehan, acting commissioner of environmental conservation. "Staff are already on the ground taking the necessary steps to ensure that (chronic wasting disease) doesn't spread to the wild herd," Sheehan said.
But even if it has, or does, the public shouldn't panic, officials said.
"People who eat deer meat should take heart from the fact that it's been in the western United States for four decades, but there hasn't been a single case of anyone getting sick," Stone said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
From: "Jessica Chittenden" <Jessica.Chittenden@agmkt.state.ny.us>
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & MARKETS NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
POSITIVE CASE OF CWD FOUND IN ONEIDA COUNTY DEER
Mandatory Testing Protocols Find CWD in a Captive White-Tailed Doe
The first positive case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in New York State has been confirmed in a white-tailed doe from a captive herd in Oneida County. CWD is a transmissible disease that affects the brain and central nervous system of deer and elk.
There is no evidence that CWD is linked to disease in humans or domestic livestock other than deer and elk.
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a six-year old white-tailed doe that was slaughtered from a captive herd in Oneida County as part of the State's mandatory CWD surveillance and testing protocols. Preliminary tests performed at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University determined the presumptive positive, which was confirmed late yesterday by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has officially quarantined the index herd in which the positive deer was found, and will depopulate and test all deer on the premises. Other herds associated with the index herd have also been quarantined and an investigation has been initiated to find and test any susceptible deer that came into contact with the index herd and to assess the health and environmental risks associated with such establishments. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will conduct intensive monitoring of the wild deer population surrounding the index herd to ensure CWD has not spread to wild deer.
CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of deer and elk. Scientific and epidemiological research into CWD is ongoing. To date, research shows that the disease is typified by chronic weight loss, is always fatal, and is transmissible between susceptible species. CWD has only been found in members of the deer family in North America, which include white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose.
CWD has been detected in both wild and captive deer and elk populations in isolated regions of North America. To date, CWD has been found in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming in the United States, and in Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada.
Establishing the known CWD health status of captive and wild cervid populations is a critical component for controlling CWD. In New York, the responsibility for controlling CWD is shared between the State Department of Agriculture and Markets, DEC, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). New York's cooperative, active surveillance program serves as a model for the nation in CWD control.
The State Department of Agriculture and Markets monitors the health and movement of all captive deer and elk for the presence of common livestock diseases, including CWD. In July 2004, the Department initiated the CWD Enhanced Surveillance and Monitoring Program, which requires captive deer and elk herd owners to take various actions, including routine sampling and testing, animal identification and an annual herd inventory. Since the inception of testing for CWD in 2000, 681 captive deer and elk have been tested and found negative for CWD.
DEC issues licenses to individuals who possess, import or sell white-tailed deer. DEC also routinely tests New York's wild deer population. Following the discovery of CWD in Wisconsin, DEC implemented a statewide surveillance program in April 2002 to test wild white-tailed deer for the presence of CWD. Samples are collected and sent to an approved USDA laboratory for analysis. To date, DEC has taken samples from 3,457 wild white-tailed deer, including 40 from the county where the positive deer was found. All samples from wild white-tailed deer have tested to date have been negative for CWD.
DEC will also implement precautionary regulations limiting transportation and possession of whole carcasses and some parts of wild deer taken near the location of the captive herd. These regulations will be similar to those currently in place for importation of carcasses and parts of deer into New York.
DEC has also implemented regulations restricting various activities to help control CWD within the State, including restrictions on the importation of live deer and elk, deer feeding, importation and possession of certain deer parts and carcasses, and transportation of deer and elk carcasses through New York State.
USDA APHIS supports individual State programs by providing funding for CWD prevention and surveillance. USDA APHIS reimburses states conducting CWD testing on their wild and captive cervid population and also provides indemnification dollars for captive herds that must be destroyed due to the presence of CWD.
New York State has 433 establishments raising 9,600 deer and elk in captivity. In the wild, DEC estimates there are approximately one million deer statewide.
###
Jessica A. Chittenden
Director of Communications
NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets
10B Airline Drive, Albany, NY 12235
( 518-457-3136
Deer wasting disease surfaces in state test
1st discovery of neurological ailment in East draws call for calm
By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer Times Union
First published: Friday, April 1, 2005
ALBANY -- A white-tailed deer on an Oneida County farm tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first such case in the East for an illness that has threatened deer and elk in the Midwest and West.
The fact that chronic wasting disease was found in New York could damage the state's venison farming and deer-hunting industries, but state officials said Thursday there was no cause for panic.
The disease was discovered last week in a 6-year-old, white-tailed doe during a state program that randomly tests both wild and farm-raised deer. It was confirmed Wednesday at a federal testing facility in Ames, Iowa.
The animal showed no signs of the illness before it was slaughtered in early March, said Bruce Ache, a state Department of Agriculture and Markets veterinarian.
Chronic wasting disease, a neurological ailment, is part of the same family of illnesses as mad cow disease. There is no evidence, however that people can become ill by eating meat from an animal infected with chronic wasting disease.
"We want to alert people that venison in the state of New York has no potential for harm," said state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello.
State wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said the Oneida County case is cause for a stepped-up testing and eradication effort, but deer are in little danger.
"Even in the places where it's been established, it has not decimated populations by a long shot," Stone said.
Officials would not identify the farm where the deer lived, saying only that the owner had 18 deer, which he sometimes sold as breeding stock. They will be killed and tested. In addition, officials will look closely at six other deer farms that bought deer from the Oneida County farmer. Animals at those farms may also be slaughtered. Farmers are compensated when their deer are killed.
State officials do not yet know whether the deer that tested positive for the disease was imported from another state or born locally.
"We're dealing with the owner and his recollection of the origin," Ache said.
Raising deer for meat, breeding stock or game animals is a growing industry in New York, with at least 200 farms statewide.
"I can make money doing this on a small farm," said Byron Ellis, who has about 100 head at the Alta Crest Red Deer Farm in Oswego County. "You don't have the overhead and the feed bills."
Deer farms can be quite large. Brian and Martha Goodsell raise 2,000 deer for meat at their 400-acre Fallow Hollow Deer Farm in Tioga County. Because the species they raise, European fallow deer, is not believed to be susceptible to wasting disease, Goodsell is not too concerned about the health of their herd. "But people may overreact," he said.
Other New York deer farmers are also worried the Oneida County case will hurt their business.
"That's not good," said Diane Conely, owner of Lomita Deer Farm in Saratoga Springs, upon hearing the news. Conely, who has about a dozen deer that she raises for sale to hunting preserves, also raises fallow deer.
A leading deer farmer in Wisconsin -- which has wrestled with the wasting disease issue in deer both on farms and in the wild since it was discovered in that state in 2002 -- said the biggest problem isn't the disease, but how the government reacts to it.
"The politics and the regulations have had a greater impact than the disease itself," said Gary Nelson, president of the North American Deer Farmers Association.
Wild deer populations are continuing to grow in Wisconsin, Nelson said, but farmers have found it hard to make money because of sharp restrictions on how they can buy and sell breeding stock.
A concern is that chronic wasting disease will spread to wild deer herds. New York requires deer farmers to use game fencing that is about 7 feet high to keep farmed deer from coming into contact with wild herds. Several farmers said those fences work, but a 2003 survey from Wisconsin environmental officials found that at least 436 deer had escaped from the state's farms, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
"White-tailed deer can jump over those fences," Conely said. Her deer have escaped only once. "The state of New York vet left the gate open, and our breeder buck ran down the driveway," she said.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected in wild and farm-raised deer and elk populations in 11 states besides Wisconsin: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. It also has been found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.
Scientists don't know how the disease is transmitted among animals.
New York has been randomly testing both farm-raised and wild deer for three years, examining tissue from the brain stems of dead deer. At least 3,500 wild deer have been tested, including 40 in Oneida County. Not one was found to have chronic wasting disease before this month's case.
The state has also restricted where deer can be imported from in order to keep local herds healthy.
Those efforts will be stepped up, said Denise M. Sheehan, acting commissioner of environmental conservation. "Staff are already on the ground taking the necessary steps to ensure that (chronic wasting disease) doesn't spread to the wild herd," Sheehan said.
But even if it has, or does, the public shouldn't panic, officials said.
"People who eat deer meat should take heart from the fact that it's been in the western United States for four decades, but there hasn't been a single case of anyone getting sick," Stone said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.