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Here is some info from a well informed game farmer. There has been a lot of talk about CWD lately in Wisconsin. The media has done a horrible job of giving out the facts on CWD. We have taken a lot of time to put together some of the facts behind CWD and want to pass it on to people throughout Wisconsin and beyond. If you would please like and pass on this post I would appreciate it. If anyone wants information to back up what is written I can get it to you. I have had a lot of experience with the disease and have done a lot of research. This is only the information skimming to top. There is so much information and research out there. It is time to share. Thank You, Rick 1. CWD is not a devastating disease. There is NO scientific evidence that CWD has caused a population decrease anywhere in the United States including the highly-infected state of Colorado. With the low prevalence rates and the long incubation periods before mortality, CWD cannot and will not affect wild populations of deer or elk. 2. Death by other reasons before CWD. Deer or elk infected with CWD will die of a bullet, a vehicle, or a predator long before CWD will ever kill them. Far more deer and elk have died from a bullet looking for the disease than the disease itself will ever kill. 3. No one can stop the spread of CWD. Research shows numerous ways it can be spread: a. Carcass movement from CWD infected areas; b. Plant material from infected areas (e.g. hay); c. Birds or scavengers (e.g. coyotes) who feast on infected carcasses and then shed the prion to non-infected areas. 4. History of Tests - Wild vs. Farmed. If we look at the history of CWD testing in Wisconsin, from 1998-2016, there were 42,269 tests of farm-raised deer. Out of those tests there were 151 positives. The infection rate of those deer would be .0035. For Wisconsin’s wild deer population, even back in 2002, statewide there were 40,117 tests analyzed with 205 positive animals. That would be at an infection rate of .0051. That is a rate that is 50% higher than the infection rate on our farms. The current rate of infection is .094 in the wild herd. The CWD program that deer farmers follow is working to catch the disease and keep the infection rate down, but CWD keeps getting brought onto our farms from the wild/environment. It is not making a difference whether our farms are single fenced or double fenced. 5. The political game. Deer farming is only one avenue that the disease can be spread and, unfortunately, people who don’t like deer farming use CWD as an excuse to get rid of deer farming or to implement unnecessary rules. 6. Laws in Constant Motion. Deer farming in Wisconsin is the most highly-regulated agricultural industry: a. Deer farms must be CWD tested for 5 years before one farm can transfer a deer to another farm; b. Deer cannot be moved across the street without a veterinary inspection and health paper; c. Deer farms must officially ID all animals on their farm and report all animals that are sold, purchased, born and died which are verified by DATCP on an annual basis; d. Deer farms must test all deer over the age of 12 months for CWD that die or are killed if farmers want to move deer intrastate or interstate; 7. Deer farms are the victims of CWD. CWD is spreading across the landscape and, because deer farmers are mandated to test 100% of eligible mortalities, the disease is found on the farm first. 8. Nose-to-nose contact does not spread CWD. There is NO scientific research that supports CWD is spread by nose-to-nose contact so a double fence will not prevent the spread of CWD. Recently, a double-fenced herd located in a CWD endemic area in Richland County was found to be CWD positive. There was no evidence that CWD was brought in by any of the purchased animals. Environmental contamination is the most logical cause of CWD spreading to their animals. 9. No Evidence. To date, NO EVIDENCE has been found of a human disease derived from eating or handling a CWD positive animal. 10. CWD is a transmissible disease. CWD is not a highly contagious disease, hence, the low prevalence rate. Dr. Beth Williams, who named the disease, says in her book that CWD is more like a type of a toxic disease than an infectious disease. 11. Test and ye shall find. USDA data shows that there is a higher prevalence of CWD in wild populations than in captive deer and elk: a. There are currently 7 states with CWD in their wild herds that do not allow farmed deer or elk. CWD is a deer disease and does not distinguish between fence or no fence; b. How is it that Arkansas, who recently discovered CWD in their state, has an infection rate over 38% and yet they did not know they had CWD? Answer is because CWD is not a deadly, killing disease. If it were, Arkansas would have known they had CWD long before now! Deer and elk are not dying of CWD, we are killing them to find out they have a prion disease. c. Arkansas and Kentucky relocated wild elk several years ago and many of the elk originated from Colorado, a known CWD infected state. Now that Arkansas has found CWD (a state that recently proclaimed to be CWD-free), we need to be very concerned about the elk that were relocated to Wisconsin from Kentucky. If Kentucky was testing all of their hunter-harvested deer and elk like the deer and elk farmers in Wisconsin have had to do for over 10 years, they most likely would have discovered the disease in their state due to the fact that their animals originated from several CWD states years ago. We cannot continue to only regulate one side of the fence if we truly are concerned about CWD and not only about putting deer and elk farmers out of business due to overregulation and banning of legitimate businesses all together! 12. Living with CWD. Research shows that the more susceptible genotype animals live for an average of 4 years after contracting CWD even in a highly contagious research facility. The most resistant to CWD live for 13 years or more and this research has been documented at the Wyoming research facility since the 1970’s. 13. Deer farmers strive for answers. Deer farmers around the country are investing thousands of dollars into CWD research: a. Whitetails of Wisconsin has financially helped support a test and cull research project in Colorado to see if removing the infected animals will reduce the prevalence rate; b. Whitetails of Wisconsin recently approved a $10,000 CWD research project in Wisconsin to see if deer really do die of CWD in a more natural setting (not a highly-infected research facility where we know they do eventually die at some point); c. Wisconsin deer farmers are helping to develop a live test for detecting CWD. A recently depopulated Wisconsin herd allowed USDA to collect numerous tissue samples from their entire herd to further the advancement of live tests for CWD. 14. Escapes are low risk. Deer farm escapes are rare, but, when it does happen, these animals pose a very low risk of spreading any disease due to the fact that most of these animals have been tested for TB and Brucellosis and in the CWD program for more than 10 years. 15. Deer Farmers want to know. What is the State of Wisconsin going to do to prevent CWD from spreading to deer farms? 16. Better yet - What are the opponents of deer farming doing to help solve the CWD issue?

http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2016/09/uw-research-finds-first-ever-evidence-of-white-tailed-deer-declines-from-cwd.html

https://www.wyofile.com/study-chronic-wasting-disease-kills-19-deer-annually/..

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/cwd-outbreak-on-iowa-deer-farm/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18776116

Been waiting over 20 years, how long does it take to find out if it affects humans? Be dead of something else before that day ever comes.

He is not of course 100 percent, but had soil samples from Colorado and Iowa County Wis, and other areas,,,,,,, he was there because, not many farms in the UP, and the farming practices are to raise beef cattle not mass feed production, and named all kinds of chemicals, that may affect the reason of the spread,,,,,