CWD Found in Wild PA deer

It's about to get ugly in Blair and Bedford counties.
 
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=12775&PageID=648010&mode=2&contentid=http%3A%2F%2Fpubcontent.state.pa.us%2Fpublishedcontent%2Fpublish%2Fmarketingsites%2Fgame_commission%2Fcontent%2Fresources%2Fnewsreleases%2Fnewsrelease%2Farticles%2Frelease__019_13.html

It will be interesting to see if they make an attempt to close down the preserves and how they address feeding of wildlife.  No doubt they will be killing whatever deer they can get access to.

Oh here we go....

eyesandgillz

Oh here we go....

 
  
Not sure if that was directed to my post, or the topic in general Gillz.
  
But I have no doubt that state agencies to some degree look out for one another.   And I don't think pgc wants to throw dpt of ag under the bus here.  Even though it is probably them to blame on this due to it most likely being tied to "deer farming" and escaped deer.    That only highlights the very lax restrictions and enforcement despite knowing the risks.   And I see no reason for pgc to stroke Ag, or hold their hand on this.   And in the end, maybe they won't...
 
Like I said, pretty clear alot more was going on than met the eye.   Only someone extremely naive would look at the timeline of events and circumstances and not realize that to at least be a VERY GOOD probability.
 
Farming issues were likely known, and pgc went into "potential disaster" mode, clearly very likely knowing something was going on behind the scenes with some of these "farms".    Even prior to this, there was a basically circus-like atmosphere over the fairly recent "escapees".   The handling of the whole situation since day one has obviously been a joke.
   
What do you think the reaction from dept of ag wouldve been if a contagious disease such as this were known, except it was something infecting cattle instead, and to become a very real possibility in the state and could affect the state beef & milk industry?   Stringent safe-guards wouldve been put into place day 1 and it wouldve been "over the top" regulation.    But who cares about a few deer farms, the hunting industry and the states 1 million wild deer right?
 

It would certainly be the ideal excuse for them to hammer the deer if that is still the goal as many folks believe. If they just want to do what is best they have 45 years worth of experience from other states to draw on.  As you said, game numbers are still strong in many areas that have CWD and they are never going to eradicate it so control the losses with reductions in tags as other states have done.
They probably will outlaw feeding which is really going to suck.  I am watching two deer at my bird feeders as I type.  Course I spilt a quart or so on the ground  again, clumsy me.

I agree with that. It was the tree huggers that wanted the deer reduced in the first place so it's hard to see them giving up their bird feeding stations to save a few deer. The same with feeding turkeys, cracked corn doesn't draw the deer in but whole corn sure does and there are always a few kernels in a bag of cracked. Hell, I mix it together to save a few bucks as I get a bag of whole much cheaper than cracked.  It should be interesting.

Here is the plan for anyone who hasn't yet seen it.   
   
   http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1253813&mode=2
 
Scroll down and click on it.

wayne c
I'm not saying they should.   Just that I can't understand why they wouldn't if that is what they had already predetermined to be some of the courses of action.

 
That is what worries me. Most of the items in the plan have been shown to not eliminate the disease. They are standard concepts to address CWD that have largely been failures.

never let a good crisis go to waste...

wayne c 

All in all, I think things have a real potential to get ugly here.

 
Yep.  Where does a plan of deer eradication stop? It hasn't worked elsewhere. It is pretty safe to say that CWD is outside of where these positives tests cam from. Probably has been for some time but all the testing lately caught it.  We gonna start in the positive counties and spread out across the whole state when other positives surface.
 
This could get real bad depending on how they choose to proceed.
 

Count me in for help in killing all your deer. Then perhaps folks in the southern WMU's will get a better idea of what those of us who hunt in 2F and 2G have had to contend with the last decade. LOL 
On a serious note, I agree with Wayne at least until they know the extent of the problem.

wayne c 
  They don't believe it harmful to humans, but from what I have read that is NOT 100% confidence in that and It seems to be far from completely understood.      

The uncertainty of this disease is what concerns me the most.
 
The consumption issue aside, CWD is not well understood in general at this time.  We have plenty of theories out there, but we still don't have a thorough understanding of how the disease is transmitted, what the implications of CWD are on the deer herd if left unchecked, what mitigation measures (if any) are necessary, and how effective such mitigation plans would be.
 
This is a scary situation indeed.  I just hope the PGC has their facts straight before any radical plans are implemented.

I just hope the testing increases substantially throughout the state and I hope the PGC can get the funding to increase the testing by quite a large amount.

 
It is included in the cwd response plan, that one of the steps if cwd was found, to request that "any available cwd funding be released by the dept of ag."

Actually it means a helluva lot more than a "hill of beans" how it got here.   That means quite a bit towards eliminating or at least controlling this as much as possible.
 
It would help greatly in knowing so that it can be effectively addressed.   Say it is, as I strongly believe deer farm related, then how did this mess happen and how can more instances of the same be prevented in the future.   Possibly even into other areas of the state.   Regulations being insufficient.   Farms not complying with regulation.  Loopholes.   etc.   And it may even matter in the future towards funding future addressing of the issue.   Also if this falls into ags lap in the way of being "farm related" despite the regulatory process which many believed insuffient all along... asking for state money to address this and pgc actually recieving it should be a no-brainer.
 
I agree it was just a matter of time before it got here, but mainly because of our situation.   But I don't know that wouldve been the case with alot more common sense regulation and enforcement all the way around, and particularly on the part of Ag.
 
I also am curious as to what the response will be.  I just watched a replay of the press conference on the pgc site.   They didn't give away much of what they will be doing.  Will be holding more meetings in the area of the cwd deer.  

Today I heard that the positive tests may have been other escapees from deer farms and they were not wild born?
 
Who knows at this point. Supposedly a few farms closed down and the deer "disappeared". IE: released.
 
Rumors.