Agency to spend $10M to tackle chronic wasting disease in deer
HARRISBURG >> The Pennsylvania Game Commission is unveiling a draft of its chronic wasting disease response program Thursday in Harrisburg. It could involve a variety of actions, including increasing deer harvest permits and even targeted removal of deer after hunting season, according to Travis Lau, commission communications director.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain disease that is easily transmitted among cervids — deer, elk, moose and reindeer. In February 2018, part of Berks County was included in the commission’s Disease Management Area 4 after a captive
deer was diagnosed with the disease in Lancaster County.
The commission is arming itself with data to do battle with wildlife diseases across the state such as chronic wasting disease, white-nose syndrome, West Nile virus and mange.
In August, the commission and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, also known as Penn Vet, announced they would be joining forces in the new Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program, a sciencebased, wildlife health program that will increase disease surveillance, management and research to better protect wildlife across the state, according to a statement announcing the partnership.
The commission is financing a $10 million fiveyear contract with Penn Vet, the state’s only veterinary school. There will be 12 employees in the program, including one who will be onsite at the commission’s headquarters and act as liaison with Penn Vet. That position has not been filled yet.
“The Pennsylvania Wildlife Futures Program will expand and expedite the game commission’s capacity to identify, detect and manage diseases in Pennsylvania,” Bryan Burhans, commission executive director, said in the announcement. “It is a responsible step forward for a wildlife management agency that seemingly is besieged by new wildlife issues almost annually.”
Dr. Matthew Schnupp, commission bureau of wildlife management director, said Tuesday that the program is not only focusing on the next five years, but 15 to 30 years down the road.
Schnupp, who has a doctorate in wildlife science from Texas A&M University, said collecting a broad base of data will be key to fighting current and future diseases.
“Data-driven decisions are huge for us,” said Schnupp, who joined the commission in February 2018. “You are only as good as the data that is driving you.”
He said if the Wildlife Futures Program existed in 2010, the commission would have been able to better leverage its resources in the fight against chronic wasting disease.
Heading the new program at Penn Vet will be Dr. Julie Ellis, an ecologist who received a doctorate in ecology and biology from Brown University, and veterinarian and Dr. Lisa Murphy, a toxicologist who received her doctor of veterinarian degree from Penn Vet and is an associate professor of toxicology there.
“Disease issues in wildlife are so complex we really need the expertise of many disciplines,” Ellis said.
Murphy said animals often act as sentinels and can provide insight into environmental and human health because they are interrelated.
Ellis said they will be working with the public and hunters to get more information on chronic wasting disease, in particular.
“It’s not because CWD is the most important disease, but because it is the most difficult one to deal with,” Ellis said. “It is going to be challenging.”
Murphy said the Penn Vet team will do surveillance and offer to identify and address gaps in knowledge.
She is resident director of the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Chester County. The PADLS also has locations in Harrisburg, managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and in State College, run by Penn State.
Having someone directly involved in the PADLS network will make getting test results faster, Schnupp said, as well as increase collaboration across the state and beyond.
“Diseases don’t recognize state boundaries,” Schnupp said. “Penn Vet will help us with that.”