Illinois - Some say Chronic Wasting Disease threat not worth killing deer

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Some say disease?s threat not worth killing deer

By JEFF ENGELHARDT - jengelhardt@shawmedia.com Created: Saturday, February 18, 2012 5:30 a.m. CST


A state program aimed at preventing the spread of a disease fatal to deer has sparked debate among hunters and public officials that argue it is either a scientific necessity or a money-driven extermination.

For the past decade, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has conducted a program that requires state biologists and conservation police to annually kill hundreds of deer to prevent the spread of and to test for Chronic Wasting Disease, commonly referred to as CWD. The highly contagious disease ? found in only deer, elk and moose ? destroys the nervous systems and is always fatal.

Dave Wiehle, owner of the Cortland-based Melrose Te-Tops International and an avid hunter, said what started as a ?wholesome endeavor? has turned into ?mass murder.?

He said sharpshooters from the DNR use aggressive tactics such as baiting and helicopter flyovers to attract the deer and kill them in bunches. Tom Beissel, regional wildlife biologist and director of the program, said while the DNR does bait the deer, it mostly targets bucks because males carry and pass the disease more than females.

State shooters kill the deer from mid-January through late March; the last deer-hunting season ends in mid-January.

More...
http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2012/02/17/some-say-diseases-threat-not-worth-killing-deer/ag8te4h/

 

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Re: Illinois - Some say Chronic Wasting Disease threat not worth killing deer

Article updated: 4/10/2012 11:40 PM


Deer culling to continue in Dundee Township

A resident-led attempt to end deer culling in a portion of Dundee Township failed by five votes Tuesday night.

That means shooting deer and testing them for chronic wasting disease will continue to be a way of life in the township ? that is, unless Billita Jacobsen, the Carpentersville woman who started the movement to save the deer, is successful in the future.
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In December, The township board approved letting the Illinois Department of Natural Resources kill and test 30 deer in Salamander Springs, just off Binnie Road, where 600 deer live. Five of them tested positive for the disease, a figure experts have said is high.
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?Our motive here is the health of the herd, we don?t want it to be like Wyoming with a 48 prevalence rate (of the disease),? said Ray Eisbrenner, a district wildlife biologist with IDNR. Illinois? prevalence rate is 2 percent, he said.

Full text:
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120410/news/704119957/