wildlife health

Chronic Wasting Disease is an always fatal, infectious disease that affects deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. Hunters (and non-hunters, alike!) play an important role in helping us monitor the disease across the state. And in 2020, we've made it easier than ever before to help us do exactly that.

On this episode of Wild Wisconsin, we sit down with DNR wildlife conservation specialist, Amanda Kamps, to learn more about how hunters can participate by getting their deer sampled for CWD, the improvements that have been made to the process and some changes you should be aware of for the 2020 deer season. She also discusses some important ways non-hunters can help along the way.

Learn more about CWD in Wisconsin at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/cwd.html
Find a CWD sampling location near you at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/registersample.html
Listen to Episode 33 to learn more about important CWD research happening here in Wisconsin: https://share.transistor.fm/s/7e55a356
Listen to Episode 29 to learn more about the basics of CWD: https://share.transistor.fm/s/5b651fb8
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TRANSCRIPT
ANNOUNCER: [00:00:00] Welcome to Wisconsin DNR's Wild Wisconsin "Off the Record" podcast. Information straight from the source.

KATIE: [00:00:13] Welcome back to another episode of Wild Wisconsin Off the Record. I'm your host, DNR's acting Communications Director, Katie Grant. More and more hunters in Wisconsin are looking for ways to get involved with Wisconsin's management of Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is an always fatal infectious nervous system disease that affects deer, moose, elk, and reindeer.

As the name suggests this disease slowly deteriorates the brain and nervous systems of the host animal, causing it to lose excessive weight and behave abnormally before ultimately dying. CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2002. Since then, Wisconsin hunters have played an important role in helping us learn more about the disease and its impacts on Wisconsin's deer herd.

This year, we are looking to expand that sampling, to continue to better understand where the disease is throughout the state. Whether you're a hunter or simply a Wisconsinite who's concerned about protecting our animal populations, there are ways that you can help. In this episode, we speak with DNR Wildlife Conservation Specialist, Amanda Kamps on how hunters can report cases of CWD to assist the DNRs efforts.

She also goes into details about the various tools and resources hunters can use and updates us on new developments as far as CWD monitoring goes and so much more. So sit back and listen in. 

AMANDA: [00:01:48] All right, well, I am Amanda Kamps. I am the Wildlife Health Conservation Specialist for Wisconsin DNR. And part of my main responsibilities are to work with Chronic Wasting Disease and our monitoring and management of the disease and work with our staff statewide in a whole variety of different aspects from sampling efforts to public outreach and education. I'm aware of research that we have going on. So, involved in quite a variety of different things when it comes to CWD. 

KATIE: [00:02:22] Yeah. So just to get us started, what is Chronic Wasting Disease? Or as, as we often refer to it CWD.

AMANDA: [00:02:31] Of course. So CWD is a fatal infectious nervous system disease, belonging to a family that's known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathys or prion diseases.

So prion diseases is probably a much easier name to say, uh, when we're talking about CWD. And this is a disease that's found in cervid species. So we're talking deer, moose, elk, and reindeer or caribou. It has been found in the state in Wisconsin here. Our first positives were detected back in 2002 from a few deer that were harvested during the 2001 deer hunting season. But in general, uh, in Wisconsin, we had actually started monitoring for CWD in 1999. 

KATIE: [00:03:25] So what does it do to the deer? 

AMANDA: [00:03:27] So CWD is kind of like the name implies, so it's a chronic disease. Um, it's wasting, so it's a disease that takes some time to show some outward effects. So by chronic, it means that it takes that time in order for that to be visible, at least for, for us to see in deer. 

And with the wasting disease part of it is that when, uh, a deer had the disease for quite some time and now we're starting to see those outward symptoms of the disease. It's starting to get skinnier. It's starting to act a little bit more abnormal. And so it's, it's more or less really looking like the animal is wasting away. 

KATIE: [00:04:09] So I am I correct in remembering that when, when you and I have talked about this before, it's not exactly eating away at the brain, but it kind of in a way is, am I remembering that correctly?

AMANDA: [00:04:20] Well, it's causing a change in the brain. The disease can be detected throughout the nervous system. So in the brain and the spinal cord, um, in the lymph nodes throughout the body. And what happens is when, uh, if a deer is infected with it, those prions, which are abnormal shaped proteins, once those start to accumulate enough in the body, they start creating a change in things like the lymph tissue, like the brain. Then it starts creating this change in those tissues, which then create then that outward appearance or the clinical signs that we see. 

KATIE: [00:05:00] Perfect. So it's been around here in Wisconsin for a while. Why do we care about it here? What potential bad could it bring to Wisconsin?

AMANDA: [00:05:09] Yeah, that's a great question. And, you know, we were monitoring or sampling for it for, you know, since 1999. And certainly we don't know when exactly it came into the state, but at least in that 2002, when we got those test results back. Uh, that's when we had at least first detected it here. And so by having the disease here, you know, looking at research and seeing what we know about the disease already is that our research is suggesting if it's left unmanaged, that CWD can eventually spread throughout our entire state here. And that other modeling research suggests an increase of CWD prevalence in a deer herd will cause a moderate to substantial long-term reduction in the harvestable surplus. And there's other researchers in other states like out in Wyoming and they're seeing indications that CWD may be reducing both the age structure and overall populations in some of the highest, uh, CWD prevalence areas out there. So if these indications are correct, ultimately, uh, this could lead to declines in Wisconsin. Which then could have a significant impact on deer hunting here in the state. 

KATIE: [00:06:32] I think it's, you know, important to note here that it isn't just Wisconsin that's dealing with this, right? It is, you know, a lot of states throughout the country. There are some, some other countries looking at this, correct? 

AMANDA: [00:06:45] Yeah, that's correct. 

KATIE: [00:06:46] Right, right. So you mentioned that we have been sampling and testing for it here in Wisconsin for quite some ...