Wisconsin has been one of the states most proactive in the battle against Chronic Wasting Disease . A form of the same fatal brain illness as mad cow disease, CWD actually forms holes in animals’ brains, causing a variety of illnesses, including weight loss, tremors, odd - almost crazy behavior- and, eventually death. There are no reported instances of an infected animal having ever recovered from CWD.
To date, deer and elk in 14 states have been found to have CWD. There is no evidence, however, that people have ever caught chronic wasting disease from infected deer or elk.
Since it was discovered in Wisconsin in 2002, the state’s wildlife agencies have poured more than $27 million into efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.
A state audit says the efforts aren’t working.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has tried a variety of containment measures, including thinning the deer herds in areas where CWD has been found. Those measures have included lengthening hunting seasons and requiring hunters to shoot a doe before a buck, banning feeding deer in 26 states, offering rewards and cheap permits to hunters; even employing contract sharpshooters.
Instead of a reduction in CWD, the audit says the estimated number of deer with chronic wasting disease has increased, from 26 deer per square mile in 2002 to an estimated 38 per mile in 2005.
“Compared to other states in which CWD has been identified, Wisconsin has taken an aggressive approach to addressing the disease,” the audit said. “That approach also has been more costly, but it has not been effective to date.”
DNR Secretary Scott Hassett has conceded CWD can’t be eradicated in the near future.
In a letter to state auditor Janice Mueller responding to the report, Hasset says: “Wisconsin received a lot of advice, but no one handed us a road map,”
Wisconsin’s hunters may be one variable that’s frustrating the FWD efforts.
The report admits that, even when offered rewards of up to $1,000, hunters are “reluctant to shoot more animals than they can use. As an effort to combat that reluctance, the state audit suggest stepping up education and informational seminars for hunters, helping them understand the need to drastically reduce the deer population in areas where CWD has been found. Other steps suggested by the audit include another round of reduced hunting fees and increased harvest limits in areas with CWD and stepping up the state sharpshooter efforts.
Another alternative is suggested, but not recommended: reducing funding, taking no additional actions, and letting the disease run its course.
That course, fortunately, is not recommended by the audit.