A little late, but, thought it was post worthy (lol..I reckon).
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virgi...0,4762562.story
W. Va. hunters submit 1,000 deer for chronic wasting testing
By PAM RAMSEY
Associated Press Writer
December 9, 2005
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Hunters submitted 1,000 deer for chronic wasting disease testing during this year's two-week firearms season, double the amount the Division of Natural Resources had hoped to sample in its first effort to track the fatal illness.
The sampling was conducted Nov. 21-23 at nine checking stations in Hampshire County, where five deer had previously tested positive for the disease. The DNR had wanted to gather at least 500 samples from the animals' lymph nodes to determine the location and extent of the disease's outbreak.
"We received exceptional cooperation from hunters in terms of voluntarily allowing us to pull a sample. ... We found them to be extremely knowledgeable about the disease. They knew why we were there," said Paul Johansen, the DNR's assistant wildlife chief.
"It was a massive operation for us but it certainly went smoothly," Johansen said Friday.
Similar testing was conducted in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia during those states' firearms seasons. No cases of chronic wasting disease have been reported in those states but the area in Hampshire County where the infected deer were found is 10 miles from the Virginia border, 11 miles from the Maryland border and 24 miles from the Pennsylvania border.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources said it increased its effort to screen deer after the infected animals were found in West Virginia.
Johansen said the samples collected in West Virginia have been submitted to a lab in Minnesota for testing. The results are not yet known. Hunters will be notified if a deer they submitted tests positive.
Chronic wasting disease was first recognized in 1967 in Colorado. The disease, which attacks the brains of infected deer and elk, is in the same family as mad cow disease. It didn't appear east of the Mississippi River in a wild herd until 2002 in Wisconsin.
The DNR has said there is no evidence chronic wasting disease can affect humans, but it advises against eating the brains.
Virginia has banned the importation of deer carcasses from all states and Canadian provinces where the disease was reported.
Pennsylvania has collected samples statewide during its firearms season for several years but the cost is not significant because the samples are taken from meat processors instead of hunters, said Jerry Feaser, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
"We already had been visiting deer processors for a number of years to gather data for our deer harvest calculation process so it wasn't something we weren't already doing," Feaser said Friday.
The Pennsylvania agency planned to collect 4,000 samples and the Maryland DNR expected to collect about 850 samples during this year's firearm seasons. Details on Virginia's sampling were not immediately available Friday.
Pennsylvania also has an elk season and samples are collected from those animals as well.
So, I guess that's good.