Being raised as a small town country boy, I was taught to hunt from a very early age, much like many of Wisconsin’s hunters. I grew to love the sport and it became my biggest passion. Being young and naive I didn’t think anything could possibly threaten the greatest hunting season of all, the white-tailed deer season. Then in 2002, Wisconsin’s first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) was discovered. After the first case was detected the disease spread like wildfire throughout many counties in south-central Wisconsin and it looked like it could soon spread across the entire state.
Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), in other words it is a disease that affects the animals nervous system. CWD is a disease that only affects the Cervid (deer) family, and is usually fatal. The disease is thought to be spread in two ways. The first way being through direct contact with another infected deer, or second through indirect contact with soil, plant vegetation or other surfaces. The disease is likely spread by saliva, feces, and urine of the deer.
Once infected the disease slowly runs its course, creating a slow prolonged death. Signs of infection may not appear obvious for months or even years. As the disease gets worse symptoms begin to appear. Symptoms include drooling, staggering, carrying the head lower than normal, droopy ears, exhibit poor coats, appear emaciated, show lack of fear from humans, etc. CWD has a wide range of knocking down its host.
There is no current evidence that CWD is transmissible to humans but many are not willing to find out. This devastating disease has scared away many who once loved the sport of deer hunting. Hunters are not willing to take the chance of transmitting the disease to themselves or their families. However this is the time we need hunters the most. We need hunters to stick it out and help eradicate any possible infected deer there are. If we let this disease continue to spread it could have a devastating effect on our deer herd or possibly eliminate it all together.
Most Wisconsinites couldn’t even bare to think of a year with no deer hunting, it’s what we know and what we do. Not only would this affect our state recreationally but also economically. Deer hunting is a billion dollar industry and it would devastate our state without it.
2 comments:
I really enjoyed this blog. I knew how devastating CWD could be, but I didn't know the details of it. The symptoms were almost identical to rabies symptoms. CWD is like a rabies form for deer, which is very sad. I agree that the deer need to hunted, but I also completely understand why hunters do not want to hunt them. It is difficult to imagine that such a horrible disease will not effect us by eating it. I sure hope that we Wisconsinites can get past this and start hunting again because it is a wonderful Wisconsin tradition, and hunting is in our blood!
I was suprised to read that some hunters were afraid of hunting because they did not want to spread the disease to themselves or their families because it is fairly well known that it only affects deer. I would expect that hunters, especially in south central Wisconsin, would be happy to help stop the spread of this disease by hunting more. It was interesting to find out the different symptoms of CWD and how they affect deer, as I was unaware.
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