Brooklyn Karch, Deer Baiting: Does it Cause the Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease?

Deer Baiting: Does it Cause the Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease?

by Brooklyn Karch In the 2020 white-tailed deer hunt in Wisconsin, there was a 16% increase of deer registered (Wisconsin DNR, 2021). There is a forever growing number of people interested in deer hunting here in Wisconsin. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has caused many problems in the hunting community over the past 20 years all over America. It is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord of the deer, moose, elk, or even humans (CDC, 2019). CWD is theorized to spread easily through deer by close contact, that’s why baiting has been outlawed in many counties all throughout Wisconsin (Wisconsin DNR, 2017). This made me wonder if baiting really causes the spread of CWD, or could it help stop it? There are active cases of Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin with white-tailed deer, and it is not going away. It has been a 20-year battle in Wisconsin to try and take hold of the life threating disease (Larsen, 2019). The DNR has put out restrictions since the spread started, to do what they can to help stop the spread. The baiting ban is only upheld if there is an active case reported within your county. The ban does expire after 36 months, but it will be reinstated if another active case is found (Wisconsin DNR, 2017). Wisconsin has been in this endless loop of new cases, so no bans have been lifted in the original counties it was established in. Only new counties have been added to the list over the years. According to the WI DNR’s response to CWD detections, there are 43 counties in Wisconsin that have at least one active case of CWD. With the dozens of active cases breaking out, some hunters have stopped harvesting deer. With the risk of consuming an animal with CWD, hunters have started to put their own safety first (Holland, Haus, Eyler, Duda, & Bowman, 2020) . Wisconsin has been battling CWD for years now, so we need to do what we can to help stop the spread of it. Theatrically, Chronic Wasting Disease can be easily spread through deer when in close contact. This is the main argument that has caused the banning of deer baiting with corn, minerals, and salt blocks throughout the Midwest. In close contact, saliva, urine, feces, and blood may be passed from animal to animal. The mixing of bodily fluids in wild game through direct contact or indirect contact from the ground may happen if they were to eat from the same bait pile (CDC, 2019). Deer bait is typically placed in a pile on the ground and multiple deer or other wild game come to dine upon it. The spread of CWD can happen to wild or pen enclosed deer. They are still able to spread the disease through nose-to-nose contact. All deer in an active county are at risk for the malnourishing and neurosis effects of CWD (Wisconsin DNR, 2017). CWD can be easily spread from deer to deer and causes a lifelong pain for the infected deer. The ban of baiting in Wisconsin has shown some results to helping the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. The theoretical speculation that CWD spread through close contact has helped specialists in research to find a solution to put an end to this era. What if the action that was banned could actually help the situation? Baiting white-tailed deer in Wisconsin may help stop the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, along with new theories of habit transfer. Baiting white-tailed deer for a short amount of time has little to no effect on the distribution of Chronic Wasting Disease. The normal firearm hunting season in Wisconsin is just over a week long with nine days of open hunt. This is the typical time frame in which

hunters yearn to bait deer. A study done by a group of researchers from the journal Animals concluded that in a home range area and if short lived, baiting has low effect on the spread of disease. The size of land matters greatly, since the spread of disease does increase with the decrease of land (Johnson, Chandler, & Conner, 2021). The size of Wisconsin’s counties has a deer to land ratio that is low enough to not spread disease through baiting. In an unpublished, online survey taken by 32 participants, 75.1% have never seen a deer with CWD (see appendix). This leads to a conclusion that deer must be spread out at a larger rate in Wisconsin. Since 93.8% of takers live in the according state (online survey, November 9, 2021). CWD can be not so easily spread in large areas at short periods of time. The DNR has claimed that deer baiting and new ways will help stop the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in different counties in Wisconsin. According to Tom Hauge, there are over 10,000 deer still affected by CWD in Wisconsin. The DNR and himself want to contain the disease in a 411-acre area. Through baiting, a process has been made to help locate and relocate infected deer to said area. The time frame is five years to deem each county safe enough for noninfected deer in each Wisconsin county (CWD, 2016). Hunters play a primary role in eliminating the disease. With the baiting ban lifted, they will be a crucial part in the process of elimination, since numbers of infected deer harvested every hunting season are rising. Researchers have said that controlled fires might also help stop the spread of CWD. Their habitat might be the missing piece of the equation to eliminate this disease (Larsen, 2019). Traces left by tainted deer in an environment could be causing more harm than we thought. Chronic Wasting Disease should be taken seriously, and we should find the correct actions to help save more of these innocent deer. They are an important part of nature and human life, so we need to take action to help. Baiting deer isn’t always the right choice in terms of a large area, with big populations of deer with CWD. But through baiting, it can help us stop the spread by containing the affected deer. Leaving the healthy deer to roam with ease. Completely controlled fires can also help knock out the disease in areas where the habitat is believed to be infected. Baiting should be allowed in certain counties in Wisconsin to help fend off this disease.

References

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2019, March 1). Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/index.html CWD. (2016, March 1). DNR urges deer baiting to fight CWD. http://cwd-info.org/dnr-urgesdeer-baiting-to-fight-cwd/ Holland, A. M., Haus, J. M., Eyler, T. B., Duda, M. D., & Bowman, J. L. (2020). Revisiting hunter perceptions toward chronic wasting disease: Changes in behavior over time. Animals 10(2), (2076-2615). https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020187 Johnson, J. T., Chandler, R. B., & Conner, L. M. (2021). Effects of bait on male white-tailed deer resource selection. Animals, 11(8), 2076-2615. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11082334 Larsen, J. C. (2019, April 18). Researchers look to fire to combat chronic wasting disease.

Wisconsin Public Radio. https://www.wpr.org/researchers-look-fire-combat-chronicwasting-disease Wisconsin DNR. (2017, October). Enacting baiting & feeding bans in response to CWD detections. https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/documents/baitFAQ.pdf Wisconsin DNR. (2021). Wisconsin 2021 deer harvest summary. https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/harvest/deerharvest.html