Second Front Ga. DNR has ‘Zombie Deer’ response plan
To date, no Chronic Wasting Disease cases have been verified in Georgia.
An extremely contagious disease spreading among the nation’s deer populations has prompted Georgia wildlife officials to make themselves prepared.
While Chronic Wasting Disease hasn’t yet been detected within the state’s borders, Georgia Department on Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division officials have already prepared a response plan for handling an future positive cases should the need arise.
“The goal of this response plan is to detect CWD early, determine the prevalence and geographic extent, and minimize the spread,” DNR officials said in a release. “Our team of biologists and technicians have been working hard this year to sample deer to ensure the safety of our herd.”
In June, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced CWD had been found in a road-killed deer sampled for routine surveillance in Holmes County — a first for that state at the time.
Due to cases elsewhere, current restrictions are in place for Georgia hunters that hunt out-of-state. Returning to from hunts in other states, Georgia hunters may only bring home boned out meat, hides, skulls or skull caps with antlers attached and all soft tissue removed (velvet antlers are okay), jawbones with no soft tissue, elk ivories, and finished taxidermy mounts, according to DNR policy, while all other carcass parts must be left behind.
No known cases of CWD in humans has ever been detected, according to public health officials, but experts recommend avoiding exposure to the disease, and the Centers for Disease Control recommends avoiding the consumption of meat from any positive animal.
CWD is a neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by infectious, misfolded proteins called prions, according to DNR information, and due to an abnormal shape, the prions are not recognized and subsequently destroyed by the body, causing them to stack up in clumps in brain and nervous system tissue and kill the surrounding cells.
Microscopically, this stacking eventually gives the brain a spongy appearance categorizing it as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy — or TSE. Other, more familiar TSEs include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (or “mad cow disease”) and scrapie — a condition found in domestic sheep and goats. No vaccines currently exist for TSEs, leaving them always fatal to infected animals.
It can take over a year from the time a deer is infected to the time when symptoms begin to develop, with those including weight loss, poor body condition, subtle head tremors, droopy head and ears, and excessive drooling is possible in the late stages of the disease.
It should be noted, however, that all of these symptoms can be individually caused by other diseases as well, and CWD testing on the brain or lymph nodes is required to confirm a case.
The DNR asks anyone observing a deer showing these symptoms to contact their local Game Management Office. The Region One office for most of Northwest and West Central Georgia is located at 2650 Floyd Springs Road, in Armuchee, and can be reached at 706295-6041.
CWD is transmitted through direct contact with blood, saliva, feces, or urine infected with prions, and can also be transmitted indirectly through contaminated soil, food, or water.
Prions themselves are contagious, and can stay in an environment for a long period of time spreading even after an infected animal has died. This makes the disease nearly impossible to eliminate.
Historically (as of June, 2023), CDW in deer, elk, and moose had been reported Alabama,
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming as well as Canadian provinces Alberta, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
Were a case ever verified in Georgia, adjustable CWD management zones would be established by the DNR in each county that touches a five-mile radius around any positive case, and increased sampling would be encouraged in the area. Feeding and baiting guidelines would also be possible, as well as structured management of older deer populations.
The DNR has in place a risk-based weighted surveillance plan to monitor for CWD presence in Georgia, meant to increase the chances of an early detection.
The first American Chronic Wasting Disease case was first identified in Colorado in a captive deer herd on January 12, 1967, and was later detected in freeranging deer in 1981. Later, the disease spread to areas of northern Colorado and southern Wyoming by the 1990s. According to the DNR, since 2000, CWD has spread across most of the interior states and provinces of North America.
A new year is here — and with it, National Blood Donor Month.
Enacted in 1970 by President Nixon, National Blood Donor Month honors blood donors while also encouraging new donors to give. The holidays are particularly difficult for blood banks like Blood Assurance, so a monthlong focus on donors is really necessary to help them keep enough blood in stock.
“December and January are always detrimental for community blood centers due to holiday travel, frigid weather, and illnesses, such as the flu,” said J.B. Gaskins, CEO of Blood Assurance. “Blood Assurance has faced some enormous challenges in the weeks leading up to the new year, including supplying a large quantity of additional blood units to hospitals in Middle Tennessee, treating patients with injuries sustained during the deadly tornadoes.”
As of late December, Blood Assurance said they were in “critical need” of all blood types, especially O-positive and O-negative. They are also in short supply of platelet donations — half of which go to support cancer patients, according to the Red Cross.
“Our nonprofit is still experiencing one of the largest shortages we’ve seen in five decades,” said Gaskins. “We hope our community understands the importance of donating before, during and after National Blood Donor Month, by recognizing that blood isn’t something that can be manufactured. A single blood donation can save three lives.”
Those looking to donate can do so by scheduling an appointment at bloodassurance.org/schedule online, calling 800-962-0628, or texting BAGIVE to 999777.