Baseless pushback from some claiming the fatal sickness is a “political disease,” in part, drove the decision to pause the program, a top conservationist said.
MISSOURI, USA — The Missouri Department of Conservation announced on Monday that it is indefinitely pausing a targeted deer elimination program designed to slow the spread of a 100% fatal disease.
The Department’s Post-Season Targeted Removal was implemented as a disease management tool in 2012, after the state’s first case of Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, was confirmed in its whitetail deer population. The program allowed department staff to work with landowners voluntarily to remove additional deer in areas close to confirmed CWD cases after the hunting season concluded between Jan. 16 and March 15.
The disease is caused by a naturally occurring protein that fatally damages a deer’s nervous system. The name of the disease can be somewhat misleading, as deer with CWD do not exhibit a zombie-like appearance, like looking emaciated and displaying erratic behavior, until the late stages of the disease, according to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance’s website. CWD-infected deer can appear otherwise healthy for around two years before succumbing to the disease.
Department Director Jason Sumners announced the program’s pause in an open letter on Monday afternoon, alluding to the illness being labeled a “political disease” by locals who believe it’s not affecting Missouri’s deer population, despite the widespread scientific evidence and consensus showing the disease’s severity and risk.
“Scientific studies have continued to demonstrate that CWD is a fatal disease that, if left unchecked, will increase in prevalence resulting in increased mortality on local populations that significantly alter buck age structure and the ability of the population to recover from other natural factors like extreme droughts and other disease outbreaks like EHD,” Sumners said in his letter. “Others recognize that CWD is a serious threat but disagree with the approach we have implemented to address the disease.”
Sumners emphasized that the Department cannot be successful in stopping the spread of CWD without hunters’ and landowners’ support and participation. Sumners said the program would remain paused as the Department works with locals to identify a more sustainable path forward.
5 On Your Side reached out to the Department for clarification on what that work would look like, and how the Department expects CWD case numbers to be affected by the program’s pause. We will update this article when those specifics are relayed.