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State officials kept silent on CWD discovery at game farm
A state agriculture official acknowledged Friday that a second case of chronic wasting disease at a shooting preserve in Marathon County turned up on Feb. 24, but the agency declined to publicize the discovery.
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection released a statement on the first case on Dec. 2. But State Veterinarian Paul McGraw said the agency opted not to inform the public of a second finding because it occurred on the same farm as the first.
The first deer had been shot in November 2013. In the second case, agriculture officials on Friday said personnel were not available to locate records showing when the deer was killed.
McGraw also said deer on the shooting preserve only leave one way — dead.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel learned of the newest case from veterinarian and former Natural Resources Board member David Clausen of Amery.
Events surrounding the finding also provide a rare glimpse of a recent tug-of-war over scientific issues between agencies under Gov. Scott Walker.
The Department of Natural Resources has raised questions over disease transmission with its sister agency. Clausen also objected, specifically, to McGraw's suggestion that CWD could suddenly appear in a new location by a spontaneous occurrence.
Clausensays the agriculture department should make all discoveries public because of the widespread interest in the fatal deer disease.
Chronic wasting disease was discovered in western Dane County in 2002. The disease has since been found in 18 counties, both in the wild and on game farms. The state has spent more than $35 million to combat it since 2002.
"I think the fact that they didn't release this one shows that CWD is not a particularly high priority for the department of agriculture," Clausen said.
Clausen's term on the policy-setting board of the Department of Natural Resources expired in 2013. He has been critical of the DNR for not being aggressive enough in trying to control the spread of the disease.
Clausen said he was frustrated with the agriculture department because chronic wasting disease inevitably spreads, its prevalence increases, "and there is always the chance of escape from a farm," Clausen said.
The biggest outbreak on a deer farm occurred in Portage County, where 82 deer tested positive in 2006. The outbreak is believed to be the highest infection rate for a captive deer herd in the U.S. Authorities killed all of the deer in the herd, but not before officials discovered a hole in the fence and an estimated 30 deer escaped and were never found.
Portage County has since had four positive cases of the disease.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, or TSE, caused by an infectious agent known as a prion and is spread by deer-to-deer contact and through a disease-contaminated environment such as soil.
The prions invade the brains of deer and eventually cause them to waste away. There is no definitive research showing humans can be harmed from eating diseased deer, but health experts don't recommend it.
McGraw agreed that more diseased deer are likely to be found at the shooting preserve, Wilderness Whitetails. But he said the agency doesn't routinely report new outbreaks of other diseases.
"It was a deer born in that preserve and there had already been a positive in that preserve so it didn't change anything," McGraw said.
In the first case, the deer that tested positive had greater contact with other deer because it lived for a time on a separate breeding farm. The agriculture department traced 81 deer to farms in Wisconsin and seven other states from the time the buck was housed there.
McGraw contacted the DNR on Feb. 25, the day he learned of the lab results; he also contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Wisconsin, the agriculture department regulates captive animals and the DNR regulates wildlife.
"We didn't feel it was our place to make an announcement," said Tom Hauge, director of the bureau of wildlife management at the DNR. "Since they regulate captive cervid facilities, we try not to get in their sand box."
The DNR routinely makes announcements when the disease reaches a new county in the wild, but not when there are new finds within the county, Hauge said.
The initial discovery at Wilderness Whitetails was the first in five years. In trying to explain the sudden appearance, McGraw cited several possibilities for transmission, including the chance it occurred spontaneously.
That drew attention of Clausen and wildlife staff at the DNR. Clausen said he knew of no peer-reviewed research showing the disease turned up that way.
Tami Ryan, wildlife health section chief with the DNR, asked the agriculture department to back up the claim.
Richard Bourie, a veterinarian, pointed to a paper by Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner of the University of California, San Francisco, who discussed spontaneous occurrence in TSEs.
Ryan wrote back and said, "to the best of our collective knowledge, spontaneous CWD in wild deer has not been substantiated," although she said the DNR wasn't trying to pick a fight.
Said McGraw: "There is no battle going on here. We all read science here. Everybody looks at different possibilities."
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margin:0px;(0,0,0);Verdana, ;10pxRead more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/state-officials-kept-silent-on-cwd-discovery-at-game-farm-b99240649z1-253975461.html#ixzz2yXsP2GG2
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter
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I thought this was interesting
State officials kept silent on CWD discovery at game farm
A state agriculture official acknowledged Friday that a second case of chronic wasting disease at a shooting preserve in Marathon County turned up on Feb. 24, but the agency declined to publicize the discovery.
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection released a statement on the first case on Dec. 2. But State Veterinarian Paul McGraw said the agency opted not to inform the public of a second finding because it occurred on the same farm as the first.
The first deer had been shot in November 2013. In the second case, agriculture officials on Friday said personnel were not available to locate records showing when the deer was killed.
McGraw also said deer on the shooting preserve only leave one way — dead.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel learned of the newest case from veterinarian and former Natural Resources Board member David Clausen of Amery.
Events surrounding the finding also provide a rare glimpse of a recent tug-of-war over scientific issues between agencies under Gov. Scott Walker.
The Department of Natural Resources has raised questions over disease transmission with its sister agency. Clausen also objected, specifically, to McGraw's suggestion that CWD could suddenly appear in a new location by a spontaneous occurrence.
Clausensays the agriculture department should make all discoveries public because of the widespread interest in the fatal deer disease.
Chronic wasting disease was discovered in western Dane County in 2002. The disease has since been found in 18 counties, both in the wild and on game farms. The state has spent more than $35 million to combat it since 2002.
"I think the fact that they didn't release this one shows that CWD is not a particularly high priority for the department of agriculture," Clausen said.
Clausen's term on the policy-setting board of the Department of Natural Resources expired in 2013. He has been critical of the DNR for not being aggressive enough in trying to control the spread of the disease.
Clausen said he was frustrated with the agriculture department because chronic wasting disease inevitably spreads, its prevalence increases, "and there is always the chance of escape from a farm," Clausen said.
The biggest outbreak on a deer farm occurred in Portage County, where 82 deer tested positive in 2006. The outbreak is believed to be the highest infection rate for a captive deer herd in the U.S. Authorities killed all of the deer in the herd, but not before officials discovered a hole in the fence and an estimated 30 deer escaped and were never found.
Portage County has since had four positive cases of the disease.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, or TSE, caused by an infectious agent known as a prion and is spread by deer-to-deer contact and through a disease-contaminated environment such as soil.
The prions invade the brains of deer and eventually cause them to waste away. There is no definitive research showing humans can be harmed from eating diseased deer, but health experts don't recommend it.
McGraw agreed that more diseased deer are likely to be found at the shooting preserve, Wilderness Whitetails. But he said the agency doesn't routinely report new outbreaks of other diseases.
"It was a deer born in that preserve and there had already been a positive in that preserve so it didn't change anything," McGraw said.
In the first case, the deer that tested positive had greater contact with other deer because it lived for a time on a separate breeding farm. The agriculture department traced 81 deer to farms in Wisconsin and seven other states from the time the buck was housed there.
McGraw contacted the DNR on Feb. 25, the day he learned of the lab results; he also contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Wisconsin, the agriculture department regulates captive animals and the DNR regulates wildlife.
"We didn't feel it was our place to make an announcement," said Tom Hauge, director of the bureau of wildlife management at the DNR. "Since they regulate captive cervid facilities, we try not to get in their sand box."
The DNR routinely makes announcements when the disease reaches a new county in the wild, but not when there are new finds within the county, Hauge said.
The initial discovery at Wilderness Whitetails was the first in five years. In trying to explain the sudden appearance, McGraw cited several possibilities for transmission, including the chance it occurred spontaneously.
That drew attention of Clausen and wildlife staff at the DNR. Clausen said he knew of no peer-reviewed research showing the disease turned up that way.
Tami Ryan, wildlife health section chief with the DNR, asked the agriculture department to back up the claim.
Richard Bourie, a veterinarian, pointed to a paper by Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner of the University of California, San Francisco, who discussed spontaneous occurrence in TSEs.
Ryan wrote back and said, "to the best of our collective knowledge, spontaneous CWD in wild deer has not been substantiated," although she said the DNR wasn't trying to pick a fight.
Said McGraw: "There is no battle going on here. We all read science here. Everybody looks at different possibilities."
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margin:0px;(0,0,0);Verdana, ;10pxRead more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/state-officials-kept-silent-on-cwd-discovery-at-game-farm-b99240649z1-253975461.html#ixzz2yXsP2GG2
Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter
