Becky Gillette – After one elk and one deer in Newton County tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in February, expanded testing was done by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (AGF) of 49 deer and elk in the area with the expectation that the incidence of CWD would be about one percent. Of those tested, 19 tested positive for the disease giving a prevalence rate of nearly 39 percent. Testing was expanded and the most recent figures are that 50 deer and elk in the state have tested positive for CWD, with most of those not appearing to be ill.
Brad Carner, chief of the AG&F’s wildlife management division, called the findings “shocking. It is definitely way more prevalent and more widespread than we ever expected to see.”
Harvesting and testing that was initially near the Buffalo National River area has now been suspended, and instead AG&F is collecting road-kill and deer in poor condition in a 50-mile range covering 20 counties.
Cory Gray, AG&F deer program coordinator said they need the public’s help more than ever for this next phase of testing to get samples from any sick or dead deer reported throughout the state.
“Samples taken from road kills have a greater chance of testing positive than random samples from healthy animals,” Gray said. “The presence of CWD can only be determined within a day or two of the animal’s death, so we need the public to call in and report road-kill deer as soon as they see it.”
This second phase of testing will continue until at least May 20. Any person witnessing a sick or dead deer or elk should contact the AG&F’s radio room at (800) 482-9262. Operators are available 24/7.
CWD is a neurological disease that’s part of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Once in a host’s body, prions transform normal cellular protein into abnormal shapes that accumulate until the cell ceases to function. As the brains degenerate, infected animals lose weight, appetite, and develop insatiable thirst. They tend to stay away from herds, walk in patterns, carry their head low, salivate and grind their teeth.
Studies have shown that the disease can be spread both directly from animal-to-animal contact and indirectly through the soil or other surfaces. “The most common mode of transmission from an infected animal is believed to be through saliva, feces and possibly other body secretions,” AG&F states.
Deer feeding is one way that CWD can spread because it causes deer to congregate in one area. Eureka Springs banned deer feeding five years ago, and Police Chief Thomas Achord said he has touched base with all ESPD officers.
“They are aware of the feeding ordinance and will continue to look for any feeding activity and take appropriate action,” Achord said. “They will also contact Game and Fish when a deer carcass is recovered from any accidents and a Game and Fish officer will come pick up the deer for testing. I have reaffirmed the need to keep an eye out for any symptomatic animals and make a report if any are found.”
Ordinance 2123 makes deer feeding a misdemeanor that can be punished by a fine of $100 for the first offense and $200 for a second or subsequent offense, plus court costs.
Deer are the most active in the hours around dawn and dusk, but Achord said officers have seen a decline of deer in the city limits all hours of the day. He also said a biologist did a study of Eureka Springs’s deer population conducting multiple day/night surveys to get a feel for current numbers. His findings were that the current herds inside or bordering the city limits were small and have reduced in size dramatically following the city’s ban on deer feeding.
“He didn’t indicate any sign of CWD or other diseases with the deer he observed,” Achord said.
Duane Plumlee, a newspaper carrier for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, often sees as many as 100 to 125 deer per day in Eureka Springs. He saw about 50 deer one recent morning, fewer than he normally sees.
“I have noticed I haven’t seen as many,” said Plumlee, who works from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. delivering papers. “I don’t know if it is the time of the year or disease or what. I do see less than when I started delivering papers. The deer I see are healthy. They don’t look sick. But you know they are not very wild over here. Most of them just stand there and don’t run.”
The discovery of CWD in deer has some locals deciding not to eat venison anymore. While there is no proof that CWD can cross over into humans, it is very similar to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in cattle, and scrapie in sheep. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that foodborne transmission of mad cow disease to humans indicates the species barrier may not completely protect humans from animal prion diseases. It took as long as 15 years for people who ate brains and spinal cord tissues from cows infected with mad cow disease to develop Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is usually fatal within six months.
CDC, Arkansas Department of Health and the World Health Organization recommend that people not consume meat from animals known to be infected with CWD. But most of the recently harvested deer that tested positive for CWD did not look sick.
AG&F said while research has shown that prions may be present in a wide variety of tissues and body fluids, including blood and muscle, they are most prevalent in the brain, eyes, spinal cord, lymph nodes, tonsils and spleen. Thus, it is recommended that hunters bone out harvested deer and elk in the field, and take extra precautions when handling organs where prions are most likely to accumulate.
Visit www.agfc.com/cwd for more information.