Chronic Wasting
Disease
New DNR Secretary urged to replace the Wisconsin CWD Eradication Plan
In a letter to the new Wisconsin Governor James Doyle and newly appointed DNR Secretary Scott Hassett, a group of landowners and their attorney have urged a clear-eyed assessment of the success of the previous administration's Eradication solution to Chronic Wasting Disease among Wisconsin's wild white-tailed deer.
Spokesperson Anthony Grabski, Ph.D., stated: "Several factors argue for replacing the 400 - 500 square mile wild deer Eradication Program with a statewide Adaptive Management Plan that will more broadly focus on the multitude of issues addressing Wisconsin white-tailed deer management . . . as well as consider the reality of the strained and limited resources available to the State of Wisconsin for its mounting natural resource and human service needs."
Grabski, a member of a group called Citizens and Landowners for a Rational Response, noted that 2002 saw over 30 new clusters of CWD crop up across the wild landscape of North America even though systematic testing and monitoring is in its infancy. The short history of Chronic Wasting Disease monitoring has been "the more you test, the more you find." While pundits depict each CWD discovery as an indicator that the "disease has spread" to a new area, many knowledgeable wildlife observers believe the disease has been endemic in our wildlife landscape for a long time - we simply never looked for it before.
Noted white-tail deer historian, Rob Wegner, Ph.D., happens to live on 150 acres in Deer Valley just west of the center of the eradication zone. In an interview with this reporter, Wegner observed that many respected white-tailed deer experts, like Colorado's Dr. Charles Southwick and Texas professor Dr. James Kroll, have stated that eradication of CWD in" wild populations" simply is not "a feasible goal. " They believe CWD becomes simply one of many factors "to consider in management." Wegner also agonizes over the collateral damage of the eradication program which replaced "hunters" with "shooters" and corrupted the venerable sport of hunting into "killing for the dumpster." He's concerned that it may take a long time to heal the wounds done to hunting traditions and the cultural bond between deer and man.
Grabski, a protein biochemist, and his fellow hunters, landowners, and wildlife enthusiasts are particularly concerned about numerous distortions and masquerades of scientific data that have taken place to bolster the credibility of the eradication program. Most egregious of these manipulations was the computer model built specifically to illustrate the "perils" of a "do-nothing" approach to addressing Chronic Wasting Disease. Although the model was built using the resources of the UW Department of Wildlife Ecology, it was not part of an ongoing scientific study nor was it constructed under the guidance of a faculty member. The creator of the model, John Cary, is a computer technician in the department.
On December 20, 2002 Mark Peck, of Spring Green, and the CLRR attorney have filed an "open records request" of Mr. Cary to provide written documentation on his experimental simulation model, its underlying assumptions, the body of scientific knowledge that it rests upon, and other pertinent details on how this model came into being.
The citizens group believes our state budget crisis and the mounting human and natural resource needs cannot afford to continue to spend 12 million dollars to kill 49 infected deer. The price tag - both social and economic - is far too high. And the likelihood of success far too slim.
It is a time for a new CWD program, one that is affordable, realistic, and takes in account that across the state and in all corners there are serious deer population problems to address. Continuing to blow several million dollars focusing on killing deer in the Mount Horeb area is a Chronic Waste of natural resources.
See
the full text of the Letter
to Governor Doyle and Secretary Hassett.
An
Adobe PDF Version: Adaptive
Management Not Eradication
--Ross Reinhold, January 2, 2003
roscoe@mhtc.net
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
Review
Our Petition 
for
Sane Deer Management
MS
Word Document
Adobe PDF Document