Wisconsin CWD Watch Home Page

A pro-deer hunting voice for intelligent alternatives to CWD and Chronic Wasting Disease hysteria.

The Wisconsin CWD Watch website reports the efforts of a coalition of Wisconsin deer hunting, landowner, and wildlife conservation groups formed to provide reasoned, affordable, and common sense alternatives to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Chronic Wasting Disease program.

   Wisconsin DNR CWD Advisory Committee Update (11-9-07)

   New Study finds CWD in Muscle Tissue

To date the clear results from the DNR CWD program are: miilions of dollars diverted from other wildlife & environmental programs, widespread fear of eating venison, and significant damage to the venerable sport of deer hunting by corrupting it into a panic slaughter of white-tailed deer in Southwest Wisconsin.

The DNR response to this disease has created what no one thought possible - putting animal rights activists and advid deer hunters on the same side! In both camps there is repulsion at slaughtering wild deer for the dumpster - like rats - and starving them to death through unreasonable restrictions on feeding. This has led some pundits to suggest there is an outbreak of another form of the cognitive disease whose locus is the GEF II State Office Building in Madison, Wisconsin. A newly discovered disease called CPD* (Chronic Panic Disorder) appears to be spreading at the agency headquarters!

News from the Hot Zone - "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Sharpshooters" Tony Grabski sent us this humorous news article about a resident in Vermont Township who didn't appreciate having DNR Snipers shooting over bait piles in his neigborhood. - - - See the article here.

Highlights - November 2006
Joint Legislative Audit Bureau Report on CWD efforts

  • DNR accounted for $26.8 million of the $32.3 million spent on CWD through FY 2005-06.

  • To date, DNR’s efforts to eradicate CWD have not been effective.

  • Hunters must wait longer to receive CWD testing results for their deer.

  • Wisconsin’s approach to CWD should be reevaluated.

From a Summary Report (click here for a copy - 96 kb pdf file) of the Wisconsin Joint Legislative Audit Bureau on "An Evaluation: Chronic Wasting Disease Department of Natural Resources November 2006"

Link to the full report (caution: large file): http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/reports/06-13Full.pdf

Other News Items

-- Colorado concludes culling healthy deer ineffective in combating CWD spread.

- - New Research underscores importance of convenient, economical, and speedy results on CWD tests submitted by hunters.

 

Most Popular Articles from the
Archives of CWD Watch

   New Study finds CWD in Muscle Tissue

   CWD Blog
2005 Wisconsin CWD Update

   "The Science of CWD:
A Chronology of Literature on Chronic Wasting Disease
in Whitetail Deer


   "Fire in the Sistine Chapel" : How Wisconsin Responded to Chronic Wasting Disease. (PDF file) Thomas A. Heberlein, Professor of Rural Sociology.

   " A Critique of CWD Models - Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer & Elk: a critique of current models and their application."

   15 year 70A Harvest Data provide reliable measure of the success (or lack thereof) of the CWD Management Plan

   The Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab - CWD Testing Controversy

   CWD Chronic Wasting Disease McManagement & McScience

   Where's the Beef II? Confounding the Public with CWD Statistics

   CWD Blog 2005 Wisconsin CWD Update


 

Notable Quotes

"My strong opinion is that CWD and other diseases never will be eradicated from wild deer herds. They just become a factor to consider in management."

Dr. James Kroll in December 2002
"North American Whitetail"

"Duncan proposed: '. . . If the deer are so numerous, why not shoot them . . .?'

For a moment Arthur sat pondering, then began slowly ". . . you must forgive my plain speaking, but you are a stranger in our parts and don't understand our ways. Hereabouts we hunt deer, we don't shoot them."

From the "The Running of the Deer"
by Ewan Clarkson

". . . This episode shows that a scientific bureau, confronted with a question of wildlife eradication, may prefer to lose the wildlife than to lose time in scientific research for alternatives. In one sense this is water over the dam, but in another it carries a lesson for the future. At best, the scientific base in this case was sketchy, and no imagination had been used in searching for less destructive alternatives."

"It is time for us to learn caution and restraint in our power to eradicate wild things."

--Aldo Leopold, December 5th, 1944

“The best kept secret in this field is that (prions) in any form have never shown infectivity,”

Laura Manuelidis, head of the neuropathology section at Yale University's Surgery Department in New Haven, Conn.

--from Washington Times Article on Prion Diseases

 

After over four years of experimentation with CWD Eradication in and around the Mount Horeb, Arena and Blue Mounds killing zone triangle, it is clear to those of us in the center of the "zone" that eradication is an impossible mission. Deer remain numerous despite massive amounts of money and firepower being employed to eliminate them. And evidence is mounting that CWD is much more broadly distributed than alleged by the DNR.

It is becoming an axiom: the more we test for CWD, the more we find. And with further testing, the original zone continues to expand (it has more than quadrupled in geographic area) and new zones are defined.

In order to mitigate this dramatic expansion of the area of known CWD, the DNR has developed the "sparks theory" of CWD spread. This allows single new cases of CWD found several miles outside of the current disease zone boundaries to be characterized as isolated "sparks" from the original zone . . . and not an indication that the geographic extent of the disease is larger than the current designation. Only through such Orwellian concepts as their "sparks" program, is the DNR is able to claim they are containing CWD.


Wisconsin CWD Watch and related advocacy groups support:

  • Increased research on distribution, causes and transmission of CWD.
  • Expansion and Improvement of Chronic Wasting Disease testing capability serving hunters, including delivery of test results within 15 days.
  • Deer herd reduction in areas of clear overpopulation.
  • Reasonable controls (not wholesale elimination) on baiting and feeding.
  • Meaningful involvement of groups of concerned citizens, hunters, land owners, local government, and residents in affected areas in decisions about CWD management.
  • Protection of Property Rights as well as the rights of non-hunting residents and other recreational users of woodlands.
  • Restore Traditional Deer Hunting Season and related traditions and ethics of Wisconsin deer hunting.

www.CWD.cc/ - A website with articles and journal references on CWD management,
with particular attention to implications in Colorado.

www.UplandsDeer.org - Uplands Deer Management Association - Assisting Wisconsin landowners
and hunters in their stewardship of Whitetail deer and woodland habitat.

www.UplandsDeer.org/heritage - Our Whitetail Heritage.
A new Online series of hunting nostaglia by noted Deer Historian Rob Wegner.

DeerFood.com
Website of Bio-tec Research & their related community & human service activities

United Special Sportsmen Alliance
Dream Hunts for kids with special needs and challenges.


support our troops
Wisconsin Marriage Amendment - Ban on Gay Marriage
Wisconsin's Marriage Amendment &
Media Hype on the Gay Marriage Ban

- - Ross Reinhold, editor of Wisconsin CWD Watch (www.caids-wi.org)

New Research Supports Environmental Factors as a Causal Agent in Wasting Diseases
(pdf file 234 kb)

Veterinary Scientist Identifies Nutritional Basis for Wasting Disease in Cattle



Gift Book Ideas
for a Deer Hunter



About Wisconsin Author
Rob Wegner

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More Gift Ideas for Dads, Deer Hunters and Outdoors Enthusiasts

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SuperiorTrails
Advantage Rates

 

Wisconsin's
Defense of Marriage
Amendment.
Is it really a Ban on Gay Marriage?

*Chronic Panic Disorder (CPD) is a cognitive disease known to spontaneously occur among Natural Resources bureaucrats. The disease is progressive in that it leads to implementing increasingly irrational programs and chronically wasting taxpayer dollars. To date the disease is confined to the State of Wisconsin but because of its unknown rate of infectivity, unknown cause, and unknown means of transmission, "experts" are cautioning against direct contact with Wisconsin DNR officials. Many experts believe there is no known cure for CPD and therefore urge that "removal of the infected individuals" from the Department is the only way to prevent its collapse.  

The Science of CWD & Chronic Wasting Disease

"Where's the Beef II?" The political management of Data and Statistics continues

Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer & Elk: a critique of current models and their application.

Articles and Papers on Wisconsin Chronic Wasting Disease and DNR proposals

Chronic Wasting Disease Symposium at the University of Wisconsin

Chronic Wasting Disease - CWD Links and Other Resources

New Study finds CWD in Muscle Tissue

Contact Information: Wisconsin CWD Watch

* While we oppose the WDNR's shoddy research methods and reporting, their "rush to judgment"
plan of action, and their expensive propaganda campaign, we applaud many rank and file DNR employees who have dedicated their careers and vocations to maintaining our fragile connection
with and understanding of the Wild . . . its strengths, frailties, its needs and misuses.


Wisconsinbooks.com - Wisconsin travel, outdoor recreation, and vacation guides
Mount Horeb Mustard Museum - Gourmet Food Gifts. Thousands of mustards, sauces, and hot gift ideas
Roscoe's Canoe Trip Pages - Camping, canoeing & fishing in Wabakimi Provincial Park
Wisconsin Waterfalls Minnesota Waterfalls, Upper Peninsula Water Falls
Lake Superior Circle Tour: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan Upper Peninsula and Ontario
Uplands Deer Management Association - Assisting Wisconsin landowners and hunters in their stewardship of Whitetail deer and habitat


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