Conservationists fight fatal deer disease in north-central Missouri

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to note that taxidermists aren't required to participate in a statewide CWD monitoring program. The program is voluntary.

About 520,000 Missouri hunters hit the deer trails year after year to try to score their biggest buck, providing about 12,000 jobs and boosting the state's economy by about $1 billion, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Missouri conservationists now are trying to stop the spread of a fatal disease that could potentially have a large effect on Missouri's deer population and economy.

Chronic Wasting Disease has been found in both captive and free-ranging deer in north-central Missouri, according to Missouri conservationists, and there have been no cases of the fatal neurological disease found in Southeast Missouri -- and they want to keep it that way.

"Our goal at this point is to limit the spread and prevalence of the disease there, and also prevent the introduction of the disease to another part of the state," said Jason Sumners, resource scientist and state deer biologist for the Department of Conservation.

CWD is a degenerative nerve disease that causes holes to develop in deer brains, Sumners said. The holes in the brain cause deer to lose neurological control -- they lose coordination and are not able to eat, causing the deer to waste away and die.

The disease is 100 percent fatal, and there is no known cure.

The Department of Conservation is hosting public meetings across the state to receive comments and to educate the public about its plans to stop the spread of CWD. One is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Cape Girardeau Nature Center.

For more information on CWD or the public meetings, visit mdc.mo.gov. People also can post comments online at mdc.mo.gov/deerhealth.

"There is absolutely no link to human ailment whatsoever" from human contact with a deer infected with CWD, said A.J. Hendershott, regional supervisor for outreach and education division of the Department of Conservation.

Although CWD is not a human health concern, Hendershott said, the large deer industry in Missouri affects many people. Everything involved in the hunting and harvesting of deer, from purchasing firearms and ammunition, clothing and camping gear to taking a kill to a taxidermist, deer are a "pretty big financial implication for Missouri," he said.

"CWD is important to everyone that deals with deer," Hendershott said.

Missouri is home to an estimated 1.4 million free-ranging deer and 9,000 captive deer, he said. Captive deer are those deer that are bred or that live in big-game shooting preserves, according to the conservation department.

The disease is spread through deer-to-deer contact by the passing of a prion, an infectious agent composed of protein that is present in deer saliva, urine, feces and nervous tissue within the carcass, Sumners said. CWD can be transmitted directly from animal to animal through social grooming or bodily fluids, and also indirectly through the grounds of the environment such as through deer feed, salt or mineral licks and contaminated soil, he said. The indirect disposal of a carcass and the transportation of prions by captive deer also are a potential sources of animal contact with disease.

Hunters can potentially unknowingly move the disease around if an infected carcass is moved or improperly disposed of, Sumners said.

The best way to prevent the spread of the disease is for individuals to be aware of how to properly dispose of a deer carcass, he said, which is in a city landfill or to bury it at a sufficient depth to prevent scavengers disturbing the carcass.

The conservation department also asks Missouri taxidermists to participate in statewide CWD surveillance to monitor and protect against the disease since 2007, he said.

Bruce Scheeter, owner of Showcase Taxidermy Studio in Cape Girardeau, said he removes the lymph nodes out of all adult male white-tailed deer that come through his shop. The lymph nodes are tagged and sent off for lab testing along with information including the county where the deer was killed.

Sumners said the social and economic effects of white-tailed deer on small communities is huge, and a drop in the Missouri deer population would have major consequences.

"It definitely affects hunting, the quality of our life and the things we enjoy doing," he said.

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