I can't speak for anyone else but I can give you my feelings on the matter.
For many years I donated items and money. I spent lots of money at fund raisers. I attended fly-ins to D.C. and I went to my state capitol and met with law makers and department heads. I publicly spoke of my feelings and thoughts on the topic of CWD and other topics. I emailed my thoughts to our org leaders, and tried organizing industry members to be more active and vocal on the issues to both industry leaders and to those outside the industry. There always were road blocks along the way that never seemed to soften and the progress was slow at best.
Along the way the industry tried to get out the message that CWD wasn't the dreaded illness DNR and others made it out to be. That the rules were to harsh and designed more to kill the industry than to prevent disease spread. That the real threat was outside our fences rather than inside our fences.
Then the case in Iowa came along, and then the case in Wisconsin followed as well. Cases that easily showed that what the industry has said all along was in fact true. The science the gov agencies use is bullshit! How much more evidence do we as an industry need to prove our point??? The incubation period at most is said to be 36 months for CWD. The gov in their "wisdom" used 5 years. The Flees farm has been a closed herd for over 15 YEARS!!!! I don't care who wants to say all the theories for transmission like a bird carried it in, or the prions were on the ground before the fence was put up, or that an infected wild animal was enclosed inside the huge hunt ranch area and therefore infected the buck shot had subsequently tested positive. These are all reasons why their rules, laws and protocols DON'T WORK.
But what does the industry do? Absolutely jack crap nothing!!! We continue to grab our ankles and say give it to me again!!! Instead of worrying about standards and rules we should be telling the agencies go screw yourselves and come back to us when you have a real set of protocols that address the issues.
Seriously. if the prions can never be destroyed how does anyone think CWD can be eliminated? If a bird can carry it over a fence what good does ANY testing and monitoring do? Tell me how destroying entire deer herds and the livelihoods of people accomplishes anything?
CWD is a fact of life. It is here and won't be eliminated or destroyed. All we can do is live with the fact that some deer COULD POSSIBLY get this disease. After all where is the real threat anyway? Do infected deer cause humans to get sick? No. Do deer drop over like flies each year in our pens or in the wild for that matter? No.
Some years ago the average age of a whitetail hunted in WI was 1 1/2 years old. My guess is other states have similar stats. Lets assume with groups like QDMA and others pushing for more mature deer to hunt that the average age has increased to 2 1/2 years or even 3 1/2 years. The likelihood of a whitetail contracting the illness is so low, and then the thought that it might become clinical before actually being harvested is so rare that what really is the big worry. The concern certainly then isn't for wild deer since they will be killed by a hunter or a wolf long before dying of CWD. It is our farms where we could be impacted then by the loss of our valuable adult does we have held back for multiple years for breeding purposes. However if that is the case we would have deer dropping over dead each year on our farms. I don't know about anyone else, but if I lose a deer it was because of some freak accident during testing or because some dog or wolf or bear ran them into a fence. I don't have deer getting thin and sick looking and dropping over dead!!!
Why didn't I take the time to draft a response on the "latest" rule and standards? Because as I see it the industry must not believe it's own rhetoric it has been saying all these years. If it did it would have told the gov their science is crap and wouldn't be trying to "work with" them on new standards and rules. There will be absolutely nothing accomplished in this latest effort. The industry is dying because the agencies dictate without regard to facts. The sad truth is everyone in their heart knows it is just a matter of time before the industry is closed for good. Because that is what will happen due to a lack of forward thinking and aggressive leadership.
CWD is everywhere! Anyone who thinks their state doesn't have it is either uneducated to the facts or just plain stupid.
If I were king for a day I would set this as the new rules for cervids.
1. By 1 year of age all deer must have one official ID tag, chip, or tattoo.
2. All farms need one license to own cervids. That permit would be free to the grower. Do other animal producers pay to own stock?
3. Each farm would have a fence certificate valid for 10 years. That would also be free to obtain. Gov requires it then they should pay for it.
4. Each animal shipped would need a vet supplied shipping cert. Standard vet costs apply to the grower.
5. If your herd has been TB Accr for 15 years or more and no animals have been added from a herd not meeting this rule you no longer need to TB test your herd. 15 seems long but since some positives can be missed due to poor tests available, to meet the percentages it seems fair to make it 15 years to reach that threshold of no further testing. Or all TB Accr herds should be allowed to test every 5th year after reaching Accr level.
6. Yearly a herd census report prepared by the owner/manager would be supplied to the Ag Dept of the state. Listing total # of head, sex and ages with ID #'s. Yes it should go to the state Ag Dept as we are a farming industry and not a wildlife producer.
7. Borders would be open between the states to anyone meeting the above rules.
8. Fence rules. I assume other states have the same standards as WI does and I like the one WI has. Too much to list here.
Bruc testing would cease to be required for interstate movement.
CWD testing would stop. Research would continue only as it could be a link to helping find a cure for CJD.
EHD research would be included and made more of a priority.
