Photo: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,courtesy of CWD AllianceChronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a contagious, always fatal, neurological disease that impacts deer, moose, and other members of the deer family, for which there is currently no vaccine or cure. By the year 2000, CWD had only been detected in North America in six U.S. States and one Canadian province in both wild and captive deer herds. As of 2019, CWD has been detected in 26 states, three Canadian provinces, and in two areas outside of North America (Korea and Norway). Once CWD is documented in wild populations, the only management option is containment of the disease. The artificially high deer densities associated with feeding create the potential for increased spread and prevalence of CWD, both from infected feed and close contact among individual deer.
Deer feeding provides limited benefits to deer but adds significantly to the risk that disease could be spread more quickly and widely.Containment programs typically consist of drastic reductions of deer populations in areas where the disease has been documented. Lower deer densities reduce the risk of disease transmission among animals, reduce the prevalence of the disease within the population, and slow (but not stop) the spread of the disease. Management actions and increased disease surveillance associated with CWD outbreaks often costs state management agencies millions of dollars. In addition, license sales and revenue can decline due to increased concern for the disease and hunter dissatisfaction due to reduced deer densities.CWD has the potential to have devastating long-term impacts on deer populations and in some states these impacts are beginning to be realized.
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In some CWD positive areas of Wyoming and Colorado prevalence of the disease has exceeded 50% and resulted in population declines. A recent study in Wyoming found that CWD-infected deer had a mortality rate 4.5 times greater than uninfected animals. In portions of Wisconsin the prevalence rate in mature bucks has exceeded 30%, which will have dramatic impacts on buck age structure in the near future (Remember, CWD is ALWAYS FATAL). New Hampshire Carcass Importation RestrictionsNH Fish and Game prohibits the importation into the state of hunter-killed cervid.
carcasses or parts of carcasses from jurisdictions in which CWD has been detected, except for de-boned meat, antlers, antlers attached to skull caps from which all soft tissue has been removed, upper canine teeth (a.k.a. Buglers, whistlers or ivories), hides or capes with no part of the head attached, and finished taxidermy mounts.
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(.Cervids are animals belonging to the deer family including deer, moose, and elk.)These regulations are designed to minimize the risk of New Hampshire's deer and moose being exposed to CWD through the importation of an infected animal, or the disposal of brain or nervous tissue, lymph nodes, bones and other tissue from an infected hunter killed animal.New Hampshire now permits importation of whole deer from New York. Regulations in Massachusetts and Vermont still prohibit the importation of deer carcasses from New York, however, and these regulations include the transport of New York-killed deer carcasses through these states. New Hampshire hunters are warned that simply crossing these states with a deer carcass from New York remains a violation and could result in legal prosecution. As a consequence, New Hampshire Fish and Game recommends that hunters continue the past practice of deboning New York deer.