Mad Deer Disease

Chronic wasting disease leads DEC to ban feeding deer

Story by Jessica Shea

The mad-cow disease scare a few years ago had people worrying about the red meat they ate. Chronic wasting disease, a similar neurological disorder, affects another source of meat- deer and elk. There is no need to throw away stacks of frozen venison because, according to information compiled by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), there is no evidence the disease is linked to human infection.

Unlike other diseases, chronic wasting disease is not caused by bacteria or a virus. Rather, the disease is caused by a malformed protein particle called a prion. According to Edward Reed, a wildlife biologist for the NYSDEC, the damaged protein harms a deer's central nervous system. Proteins in the brain become abnormal and cause cavities in the brain tissue, which eventually leads to the animal's death. Chronic wasting disease is always fatal. Before the animal's death, an afflicted deer will become progressively emaciated and develop abnormal behavior.

Chronic wasting disease was first discovered over 30 years ago in Colorado's deer population, Reed said. In 2002, the disease was identified in Wisconsin. This shift eastward, presumed to have been caused by the transportation of a captive animal, lead the NYSDEC to respond to a possible threat of the disease in New York.

"They become dependent on humans for their food when they really should be more evenly dispersed in their natural environment."

"[Chronic wasting disease] had probably been there for five or six years, and it got pretty widespread before they discovered it," Reed said. "We are trying to be proactive in our treatment of the disease."

One such precautionary measure is a ban on feeding deer. Chronic wasting disease is spread through saliva. Transmission is enhanced through close contact of the animals. When people feed deer, the animals gather unnaturally in large groups.

"The deer are eating from the same food pile day after day, and it increases the chance of transmitting the disease from one deer to another," Reed said.

According to Mike Storey, naturalist and retired Adirondack Park Agency employee, feeding deer creates an unnatural situation in the way deer congregate around the food source.

"They become dependent on humans for their food when they really should be more evenly dispersed in their natural environment," Storey said. "[People] think that they are giving deer a great deal of help in feeding them, but, in reality, I think they are causing a really unhealthy situation."

Storey believes feeding deer allows for a bigger population than the natural environment can support, causing an imbalance. This is especially true in the Adirondacks, which has a very harsh environment for deer to live in.

"The deer population really almost has to be thinned out every now and then through starvation because it keeps them in balance with the environment around them," Storey said.

Before the DEC's ban on feeding deer, this thinning out of the deer population during the winter didn't always occur.

According to New York State Senator Elizabeth Little, feeding deer in the North Country has been a tradition for many years. During the typically harsh winters in northern New York, people would put out food like alfalfa, corn, and apples.

Little, who represents Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Washington, and Warren counties, said she knew of a group of people from the North Country who believed the ban on feeding deer was wrong. They believed that if humans stopped feeding deer after decades of doing so, many deer would die. Many deer did die during the winter of 2002, when the DEC first enacted the temporary ban, Little said.

"The deer population is going to rise and fall on its own depending on the severity of the winter."

The ban on feeding deer became permanent after several deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in April 2005. Two wild and five captive deer in Oneida County had the disease.

Before cases of chronic wasting disease were discovered in New York, Little was working on a bill that would have exempted the North Country from the ban. The bill would have allowed people living in the Adirondacks to feed deer local food in the winter, after obtaining a permit from the DEC.

"To their [the DEC's] credit, they were trying to curtail chronic wasting disease in New York State," Little said. "We just felt that there was a danger to the deer in the North Country who had traditionally been fed throughout the winters."

Storey said, "I think there is such a diversity of habitat in the Adirondacks that the deer population is going to rise and fall on its own depending on the severity of the winter, and that's what really ought to control the population."

After all, he said, nature knows best.

Are you worried about the threat of chronic wasting disease in New York?

DEC Precautionary Measures

To thwart the spread of chronic wasting disease in New York's deer population, the DEC enacted several precautionary measures.

In addition to banning feeding deer, the DEC does not allow the importation of live deer or elk. It is illegal to import carcasses of deer or elk from western states.

This is hoped to prevent the infected prions from entering the state. There is a ban on freeing captive deer and elk, also. This is a concern because most cases of chronic wasting disease were in captive deer. Infected captive deer could spread the disease to the wild deer population if they are freed.