| What Is Being Done About CWD? |
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Efforts to address CWD are accelerating rapidly.
- Several state wildlife agencies are aggressively collecting and testing wild elk and deer for the presence of CWD, and have instituted surveillance programs to examine hunter-harvested deer and elk.
- Some state wildlife agencies are considering adopting or have adopted regulations regarding the transportation of hunter-harvested deer and elk carcasses out of known CWD areas. Colorado has implemented regulations that allow only boned meat, quarters (without spinal column or head) or processed meat from deer or elk to be transported out of certain CWD areas.
- One option for managing CWD in wild populations is to reduce the density of animals in the infected area to slow the transmission of the disease. This is done by selective culling of animals suspected to have been exposed to the disease. In Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Saskatchewan, efforts are underway to drastically reduce local wild cervid populations in an effort to eliminate CWD in areas where it recently was found.
- Jurisdiction over commercial captive cervid operations varies from state to state. In some states the regulatory authority resides with the State agricultural or animal health agency, in some with the State wildlife management agency, and in some the authority is shared between agricultural and wildlife management agencies. When CWD is detected in a captive cervid facility, generally that facility is quarantined and all captive cervids in that facility are killed.
- Several states have recently implemented a moratorium on the importation of live cervids. Some states have also halted intra-state movement of deer and elk, and banned supplemental feeding programs.
- CWD surveillance of captive cervid farming operations is not yet regulated by the federal government, but some states, in cooperation with the industry, conduct CWD surveillance and have captive herd certification programs. A cooperative surveillance program began in 1997 between some states and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS and the North American Elk Breeders Association have proposed a cooperative Federal-State-Private Sector program to eradicate chronic wasting disease (CWD) from captive elk herds in the United States.
- A National Chronic Wasting Disease Plan was released June 26 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Interior.
- Federal legislation has been introduced to provide additional funding for CWD research and control efforts, upgrade diagnostic laboratories and create a National Chronic Wasting Disease Clearinghouse. The proposed legislation would also clarify the jurisdictional lines of responsibility for the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, which share federal responsibilities for CWD.
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