An increasing deer population, resulting in extensive damage to native plant communities, has led the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves to coordinate special archery deer hunts at state nature preserves across the state.
High quality habitats at these state nature preserves have been negatively impacted by over-browsing deer. For example, several acres of large flowered trillium, Ohio's state wildflower, have nearly disappeared at Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve because of foraging deer. Similar situations occur at 24 other sites.
There will be six two-week archery hunts beginning Nov. 2 through Jan. 24, 2009. Hunters may harvest two deer, but must harvest an antlerless deer first. Antlerless deer permits are allowed.
To apply for the special archery hunt lotteries, applicants must send in a postcard with their name, address, daytime phone number and the hunt name along with a $5 processing fee. Cash not accepted -- checks and money orders must be made out to Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. Processing fees are not refundable.
To enter, applicants must submit a separate postcard and $5 processing fee for each hunt. Entries must be mailed to the Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, 2045 Morse Road, Bldg. F-1, Columbus, OH 43229.Lottery entries must be received by Sept. 6. Successful archery hunt applicants will be notified by mail.
Local hunts include: Huron County, Augusta-Anne Olsen Archery Hunt; Lucas County, Lou Campbell Archery Hunt; and in Seneca County, Howard Collier Archery Hunt and Springville Marsh Archery Hunt.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6ltjwr
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
MASSACHUSETTS NEWS: Lyme Disease and the Complexities of Deer Management in the Suburbs
State and town officials are grappling with what will happen if Dover implements an expanded deer-hunting season to combat Lyme disease this year, and the question has started a dialogue about a regional evaluation of hunting in the suburbs.
Dover hopes to reduce its share of the deer population, which the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife puts at 20 deer per square mile in a region that should support only six to eight per square mile.
"The feeling is Dover is really close to ground zero for Lyme disease," said Harvey George, chairman of Dover's Board of Health. "The only reliable way to reduce Lyme disease appears to be to reduce the deer population and the amount of deer ticks," which can transmit the disease to humans.
But increased hunting could create a problem for neighboring towns.
"If Dover undertook a culling program, the deer would move out," George said.
Thomas K. O'Shea, assistant director of wildlife at the state agency, said expanding Dover's season, depending on what kind of additional hunting is allowed, could send deer temporarily into neighboring communities
Natick's Conservation Commission agent, Robert Bois, said he isn't as worried about deer from Dover - he thinks they already come and go across the town borders - as he is eager for a regional plan to tackle the problem.
"Overall, the deer population is out of control, and we've had Lyme disease incidents in this area," Bois said.
However, he said, the interlocking parcels of private and public land in Natick and neighboring towns, and the differing rules about how they can be hunted, represent a potential roadblock to that goal.
"It's a real maze, and the state would have to be party to that bigger issue," Bois said.
Opening land to hunters is not a simple process, O'Shea said. The patchwork of land-control interests, and differing limitations on what kind of weapons can be fired near residences, he said, pose "one of the biggest limits to deer management in Eastern Massachusetts. The fragmented suburban landscape presents barriers."
Needham is one example of that fragmentation, said the town's conservation officer, Kristen Phelps, who cited the various municipal entities that control deer habitat potentially involved in an expanded hunting arrangement.
"Ownership of large parcels is split here between four departments," Phelps said. "Park and Recreation manages town forests, the Conservation Commission manages Ridge Hill Reservation, then there's the School Department and the Board of Selectmen," she said.
Phelps supports a regional dialogue about hunting.
"There needs to be a broader conversation," she said. "I think it's a good conversation to initiate."
So does Jennifer Steel, assistant conservation agent at the Framingham Conservation Commission, a town in which O'Shea said only a portion of 4,000 acres of forest are huntable.
Steel and her colleagues have brought Sudbury Conservation Commission officials - who have worked to expand hunting on town lands since 1999 - to meetings of the Framingham board.
Steel said Framingham "leaned heavily on Sudbury's regulation and experience" in drafting a pilot program to open two previously protected habitats to deer hunters. And then the dialogue went further.
"The concept of a regional approach was broached," and the Framingham commission "at that time seemed to be very supportive of that idea," Steel said. "Is it needed? I would say, according to state statistics, yes. It's a question of the will" of area commissions, she added.
It's also a question of ecological sustainability, according to Lou Wagner, a Massachusetts Audubon Society scientist for Greater Boston. Wagner said deer numbers have strained the region's suburbs.
"Automobile accidents, incidents of Lyme disease, and, from a conservation point of view, many species of plants are beginning to disappear," Wagner said in citing problems from large deer populations. "The long-term regeneration of the forest is affected. In some areas, you can look through the forest floors and there's no vegetation left. That has an impact on a wide range of species of wildlife."
It is a relatively recent imbalance, according to Wagner, who said 20 years ago deer were harder to find in the area. Coordinated management is an encouraging development, he said.
"If just one community allows for expanded hunting, and one community does not, it creates less of an impact than a concerted effort," said Wagner. "What they're talking about sounds like the best approach. Getting more communities on board to help control deer population."
Edward Dennison, chairman of the Dover Conservation Commission, said cooperation among communities is the only practical solution.
"My personal view is to simply open public land to hunting," Dennison said. "But the deer population isn't going to go down appreciably. There are not enough hunters bagging enough deer to make a difference" in one town. "If you want to do this seriously, do something organized and systematic."
Steel said it would take the state's help to build the kind of regional plan that conservation commissions want.
"MassWildlife is centrally coordinated and the most efficient way of doing that," Steel said. "It would then have to grow and subdivide organically. Many towns have fairly broad bans on hunting, so the regulatory framework would have to be evaluated to figure out what units of management would make most sense."
O'Shea said his agency could help with the evaluation.
"What we can do is look at our data from the landscape perspective and identify areas and towns where it would be suitable to open areas for hunting," said O'Shea. "It's good that communities have identified access as the key to managing deer. We'd certainly be glad to work with towns together."
Source: http://tiny.cc/GUd02
Dover hopes to reduce its share of the deer population, which the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife puts at 20 deer per square mile in a region that should support only six to eight per square mile.
"The feeling is Dover is really close to ground zero for Lyme disease," said Harvey George, chairman of Dover's Board of Health. "The only reliable way to reduce Lyme disease appears to be to reduce the deer population and the amount of deer ticks," which can transmit the disease to humans.
But increased hunting could create a problem for neighboring towns.
"If Dover undertook a culling program, the deer would move out," George said.
Thomas K. O'Shea, assistant director of wildlife at the state agency, said expanding Dover's season, depending on what kind of additional hunting is allowed, could send deer temporarily into neighboring communities
Natick's Conservation Commission agent, Robert Bois, said he isn't as worried about deer from Dover - he thinks they already come and go across the town borders - as he is eager for a regional plan to tackle the problem.
"Overall, the deer population is out of control, and we've had Lyme disease incidents in this area," Bois said.
However, he said, the interlocking parcels of private and public land in Natick and neighboring towns, and the differing rules about how they can be hunted, represent a potential roadblock to that goal.
"It's a real maze, and the state would have to be party to that bigger issue," Bois said.
Opening land to hunters is not a simple process, O'Shea said. The patchwork of land-control interests, and differing limitations on what kind of weapons can be fired near residences, he said, pose "one of the biggest limits to deer management in Eastern Massachusetts. The fragmented suburban landscape presents barriers."
Needham is one example of that fragmentation, said the town's conservation officer, Kristen Phelps, who cited the various municipal entities that control deer habitat potentially involved in an expanded hunting arrangement.
"Ownership of large parcels is split here between four departments," Phelps said. "Park and Recreation manages town forests, the Conservation Commission manages Ridge Hill Reservation, then there's the School Department and the Board of Selectmen," she said.
Phelps supports a regional dialogue about hunting.
"There needs to be a broader conversation," she said. "I think it's a good conversation to initiate."
So does Jennifer Steel, assistant conservation agent at the Framingham Conservation Commission, a town in which O'Shea said only a portion of 4,000 acres of forest are huntable.
Steel and her colleagues have brought Sudbury Conservation Commission officials - who have worked to expand hunting on town lands since 1999 - to meetings of the Framingham board.
Steel said Framingham "leaned heavily on Sudbury's regulation and experience" in drafting a pilot program to open two previously protected habitats to deer hunters. And then the dialogue went further.
"The concept of a regional approach was broached," and the Framingham commission "at that time seemed to be very supportive of that idea," Steel said. "Is it needed? I would say, according to state statistics, yes. It's a question of the will" of area commissions, she added.
It's also a question of ecological sustainability, according to Lou Wagner, a Massachusetts Audubon Society scientist for Greater Boston. Wagner said deer numbers have strained the region's suburbs.
"Automobile accidents, incidents of Lyme disease, and, from a conservation point of view, many species of plants are beginning to disappear," Wagner said in citing problems from large deer populations. "The long-term regeneration of the forest is affected. In some areas, you can look through the forest floors and there's no vegetation left. That has an impact on a wide range of species of wildlife."
It is a relatively recent imbalance, according to Wagner, who said 20 years ago deer were harder to find in the area. Coordinated management is an encouraging development, he said.
"If just one community allows for expanded hunting, and one community does not, it creates less of an impact than a concerted effort," said Wagner. "What they're talking about sounds like the best approach. Getting more communities on board to help control deer population."
Edward Dennison, chairman of the Dover Conservation Commission, said cooperation among communities is the only practical solution.
"My personal view is to simply open public land to hunting," Dennison said. "But the deer population isn't going to go down appreciably. There are not enough hunters bagging enough deer to make a difference" in one town. "If you want to do this seriously, do something organized and systematic."
Steel said it would take the state's help to build the kind of regional plan that conservation commissions want.
"MassWildlife is centrally coordinated and the most efficient way of doing that," Steel said. "It would then have to grow and subdivide organically. Many towns have fairly broad bans on hunting, so the regulatory framework would have to be evaluated to figure out what units of management would make most sense."
O'Shea said his agency could help with the evaluation.
"What we can do is look at our data from the landscape perspective and identify areas and towns where it would be suitable to open areas for hunting," said O'Shea. "It's good that communities have identified access as the key to managing deer. We'd certainly be glad to work with towns together."
Source: http://tiny.cc/GUd02
Friday, July 25, 2008
NEW JERSEY NEWS: Another Township Combats Deer Population
Sparta — The township council introduced an ordinance last Tuesday that would allow deer hunting on certain township owned land designated as open space. If the ordinance is passed, hunting would be by permit only and would be strictly controlled.
The public will have the opportunity to ask questions or offer suggestions and opinions on the ordinance at the Aug. 21 council meeting. Township Manager Henry Underhill said he will show maps of Sparta’s open space so the council can discuss specific parcels of land that would be conducive to recreational hunting. Underhill said the township owns a lot of such land and thinks it should be available to citizens.
Representatives from the Sparta Police Department will attend the next meeting to offer their recommendations as to the safety and feasibility of hunting in specific areas. They will also be very involved in setting rules and guidelines for hunters and in providing a mandatory orientation class for those who plan to participate.
The white-tailed deer is the most abundant and best-known large herbivore in the United States and eastern Canada. According to the Division of Fish and Wildlife, New Jersey’s deer are a major part of the state’s landscape in all but highly urban areas.
The population was almost wiped out in the early 1900’s but rebounded throughout the century and is a thriving herd today. Deer management studies show that for every square mile, as many as 30 deer forage on the Garden State’s flora. Adult does can produce triplets and fawns can give birth in their first year. In the absence of predators or hunters, this kind of reproduction can result in a deer herd doubling its size in one year. A lactating doe or a young buck growing antlers can consume as much as ten pounds of food a day. If those ten pounds of food come from neighborhood yards, it creates a lot of headaches for homeowners.
Some enjoy watching Sparta’s plentiful deer grazing gracefully in yards and fields. Others think less kindly when they snack on gardens and strip buds off young trees. Deer will eat over 1,000 varieties of plants which makes the Garden State more like the ‘garden plate’ for hungry herds. Their voracious appetites are a persistent problem for gardeners.
But motorists face a worse problem. Deer frequently dart across Sparta’s roads, both day and night, and often cause costly accidents. This keeps car repair shops busy because all too often that cute distant cousin of Bambi ends up as road-kill. Since January of this year, Sparta Police Sergeant Ron Casteel reported 61 deer-related accidents in the township.
Township officials hope the new deer ordinance can reduce the herds enough to lessen the number of traffic-related deer incidents. It could also give some homeowners a break from the smelly sprays and concoctions they need just to keep their plants and shrubs from becoming a deer buffet.
Casteel said last week, “Deer cause a tremendous amount of damage in the township.”
Source: http://tinyurl.com/59hm7e
The public will have the opportunity to ask questions or offer suggestions and opinions on the ordinance at the Aug. 21 council meeting. Township Manager Henry Underhill said he will show maps of Sparta’s open space so the council can discuss specific parcels of land that would be conducive to recreational hunting. Underhill said the township owns a lot of such land and thinks it should be available to citizens.
Representatives from the Sparta Police Department will attend the next meeting to offer their recommendations as to the safety and feasibility of hunting in specific areas. They will also be very involved in setting rules and guidelines for hunters and in providing a mandatory orientation class for those who plan to participate.
The white-tailed deer is the most abundant and best-known large herbivore in the United States and eastern Canada. According to the Division of Fish and Wildlife, New Jersey’s deer are a major part of the state’s landscape in all but highly urban areas.
The population was almost wiped out in the early 1900’s but rebounded throughout the century and is a thriving herd today. Deer management studies show that for every square mile, as many as 30 deer forage on the Garden State’s flora. Adult does can produce triplets and fawns can give birth in their first year. In the absence of predators or hunters, this kind of reproduction can result in a deer herd doubling its size in one year. A lactating doe or a young buck growing antlers can consume as much as ten pounds of food a day. If those ten pounds of food come from neighborhood yards, it creates a lot of headaches for homeowners.
Some enjoy watching Sparta’s plentiful deer grazing gracefully in yards and fields. Others think less kindly when they snack on gardens and strip buds off young trees. Deer will eat over 1,000 varieties of plants which makes the Garden State more like the ‘garden plate’ for hungry herds. Their voracious appetites are a persistent problem for gardeners.
But motorists face a worse problem. Deer frequently dart across Sparta’s roads, both day and night, and often cause costly accidents. This keeps car repair shops busy because all too often that cute distant cousin of Bambi ends up as road-kill. Since January of this year, Sparta Police Sergeant Ron Casteel reported 61 deer-related accidents in the township.
Township officials hope the new deer ordinance can reduce the herds enough to lessen the number of traffic-related deer incidents. It could also give some homeowners a break from the smelly sprays and concoctions they need just to keep their plants and shrubs from becoming a deer buffet.
Casteel said last week, “Deer cause a tremendous amount of damage in the township.”
Source: http://tinyurl.com/59hm7e
Thursday, July 24, 2008
OHIO NEWS: Akron Metroparks Move From Sharpshooters to Bow Hunting
GREATER AKRON — Bow hunters will be allowed into four areas of Summit County to hunt deer this fall and winter through a program planned by the local parks district.
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County announced July 16 that permits will be available for bow hunters as part of its deer management program.
The district has used sharpshooters, who are trained Metro Parks employees, for the past several years, according to Metro Parks spokesman Nathan Eppink. That program will continue this year as well.
The bow hunters, who must be Summit County residents, will be allowed into portions of the Columbia Run and Quick Road conservation areas in Boston Township; Furnace Run Metro Park in Richfield Township; and the Pond Brook Conservation Area in Liberty Park in Twinsburg. The areas are remote with limited public access.
“The reason we’ve opted for bow hunting is because of access,” Eppink said. “It’s easier for bow hunters to go in there than it would be for sharpshooters. It would be difficult to get equipment into those areas, and the deer densities there are much higher than we would like.”
Countywide, the deer population is high, Eppink said. He added Summit County has consistently ranked in the top five locations in the state for deer-auto collisions.
“They don’t have any natural predators here in Ohio,” Eppink said. “Wolves are no longer in the state and haven’t been for 100 years. The deer have learned to live among people.”
The large population also has led the animals to seek out food they wouldn’t normally choose, such as shrubs and birdseed.
“When density levels get to the level they are, not only do deer-vehicle collisions increase, but they are a threat to biodiversity,” Eppink said.
article continues at original site
Source: http://www.akron.com/akron-ohio-community-news.asp?aID=2963
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County announced July 16 that permits will be available for bow hunters as part of its deer management program.
The district has used sharpshooters, who are trained Metro Parks employees, for the past several years, according to Metro Parks spokesman Nathan Eppink. That program will continue this year as well.
The bow hunters, who must be Summit County residents, will be allowed into portions of the Columbia Run and Quick Road conservation areas in Boston Township; Furnace Run Metro Park in Richfield Township; and the Pond Brook Conservation Area in Liberty Park in Twinsburg. The areas are remote with limited public access.
“The reason we’ve opted for bow hunting is because of access,” Eppink said. “It’s easier for bow hunters to go in there than it would be for sharpshooters. It would be difficult to get equipment into those areas, and the deer densities there are much higher than we would like.”
Countywide, the deer population is high, Eppink said. He added Summit County has consistently ranked in the top five locations in the state for deer-auto collisions.
“They don’t have any natural predators here in Ohio,” Eppink said. “Wolves are no longer in the state and haven’t been for 100 years. The deer have learned to live among people.”
The large population also has led the animals to seek out food they wouldn’t normally choose, such as shrubs and birdseed.
“When density levels get to the level they are, not only do deer-vehicle collisions increase, but they are a threat to biodiversity,” Eppink said.
article continues at original site
Source: http://www.akron.com/akron-ohio-community-news.asp?aID=2963
Saturday, July 19, 2008
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: College Campus Deer Cull
SWARTHMORE - The borough is moving forward with securing agreements with Swarthmore College before a deer culling can take place on campus.
The cull, which will be conducted by professionals, may be scheduled during the college's 2008-09 winter break.
Information on the college's Web site indicates the idea resulted from a 2003 recommendation made to the Crum Woods Stewardship Committee.
Formed in 2001, the committee worked with Natural Lands Trust and Continental Conservation on a plan that would protect and restore the woods, which span the borough and Nether Providence.
Among the recommendations of the stewardship plan was the need to control the deer population living in and depleting the woods. The proposal was made to college's board of managers and brought before the public within the last seven months, resulting in the decision to approve the cull.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5p3l5n
The cull, which will be conducted by professionals, may be scheduled during the college's 2008-09 winter break.
Information on the college's Web site indicates the idea resulted from a 2003 recommendation made to the Crum Woods Stewardship Committee.
Formed in 2001, the committee worked with Natural Lands Trust and Continental Conservation on a plan that would protect and restore the woods, which span the borough and Nether Providence.
Among the recommendations of the stewardship plan was the need to control the deer population living in and depleting the woods. The proposal was made to college's board of managers and brought before the public within the last seven months, resulting in the decision to approve the cull.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5p3l5n
Friday, June 27, 2008
MISSOURI NEWS: Floods Move Deer on to Highway
Motorists were urged to watch for fleeing deer on Highway 370 Wednesday as sprawling floodwaters invaded the animals' natural habitat.
On Tuesday night, the Missouri Department of Transportation shut down Highway 370 between the exits for Elm Street in St. Charles and Truman Boulevard/Cave Springs Road in St. Peters after deer were wandering onto the highway and being struck by vehicles.
The highway was reopened at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.MoDOT officials said they could close the highway a few more nights as flooding of the Mississippi River continues.
"We're going to evaluate the situation to determine whether or not we will close the highway again," MoDOT Engineer Jim Gremaud said Wednesday. "Deer don't move during the day and if the deer move a lot at night we will close it."
Gremaud said the Missouri State Highway Patrol had reported about nine incidents Tuesday in which deer had been hit.
"That's a very high number of deer accidents and that's what makes this a hazard," he said. "We don't want to put motorists at undue risk."
Lisa Bedian, a spokeswoman for the city of St. Peters, said city officials contacted emergency crews after noticing deer flocking to toward the highway.
The city owns a 300-acre park just north of the highway called Lakeside 370. A 140-acre lake is the park's centerpiece, which also includes wetland areas that have become home to at least two herds of deer.
"We are keeping updates on our city Web site and are trying not to disturb the deer living at Lakeside 370," she said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/3rjlwm
On Tuesday night, the Missouri Department of Transportation shut down Highway 370 between the exits for Elm Street in St. Charles and Truman Boulevard/Cave Springs Road in St. Peters after deer were wandering onto the highway and being struck by vehicles.
The highway was reopened at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.MoDOT officials said they could close the highway a few more nights as flooding of the Mississippi River continues.
"We're going to evaluate the situation to determine whether or not we will close the highway again," MoDOT Engineer Jim Gremaud said Wednesday. "Deer don't move during the day and if the deer move a lot at night we will close it."
Gremaud said the Missouri State Highway Patrol had reported about nine incidents Tuesday in which deer had been hit.
"That's a very high number of deer accidents and that's what makes this a hazard," he said. "We don't want to put motorists at undue risk."
Lisa Bedian, a spokeswoman for the city of St. Peters, said city officials contacted emergency crews after noticing deer flocking to toward the highway.
The city owns a 300-acre park just north of the highway called Lakeside 370. A 140-acre lake is the park's centerpiece, which also includes wetland areas that have become home to at least two herds of deer.
"We are keeping updates on our city Web site and are trying not to disturb the deer living at Lakeside 370," she said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/3rjlwm
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
SOUTH DAKOTA NEWS: Record Deer Harvest in 2007
According to harvest surveys compiled by the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department, last year saw the all-time highest recorded deer harvest in the state and it was the eighth straight year that deer harvest has increased.
GFP Game Harvest Survey Coordinator Corey Huxoll said that estimates indicate approximately 70,000 white-tailed deer and 17,000 mule deer were harvested during the 2007 hunting seasons, for a total of more than 87,000 deer. That is a slight increase of about 300 deer from 2006 and a significant increase of more than 41,000 deer since 1999.
"We have harvest records back to 1929, a time when deer hunting was only allowed in the Black Hills, and never have hunters harvested as many deer as they did in 2007," Huxoll said. "Continued increases in the number of licenses available, the number an individual hunter could possess, season dates which include the harvest of antlerless deer only, and a decrease in the fees for antlerless licenses have combined to result in the increase over the last few years."
Overall harvest success has declined in recent years to 48 percent from 54 percent in 2005, but remains relatively high despite an increase of more than 20,000 in the number of tags issued. The number of deer tags issued has more than doubled from 88,000 in 1999 to 181,000 in 2007. Most of the harvest increase consisted of whitetail does, which has also more than doubled from 16,500 in 1999 to 36,600 in 2007.
"The decrease in harvest success in some areas is a good sign that the steps taken by the department to reduce the size of the deer population are having the desired effect," Huxoll said.
"However, the department remains cautious regarding backing off on the pressure that has been applied to reduce and control the population in recent years. Some areas of the state will likely see reductions in tag numbers in 2008, but other areas will likely increase or remain steady."
The 2007 Big Game Harvest Projections Report is complete and can be accessed through the GFP website at http://www.sdgfp.info in the "What's New" section, or it can be requested by mail or in person in printed form from the Pierre office at 523 E. Capitol Ave.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4mos9t
GFP Game Harvest Survey Coordinator Corey Huxoll said that estimates indicate approximately 70,000 white-tailed deer and 17,000 mule deer were harvested during the 2007 hunting seasons, for a total of more than 87,000 deer. That is a slight increase of about 300 deer from 2006 and a significant increase of more than 41,000 deer since 1999.
"We have harvest records back to 1929, a time when deer hunting was only allowed in the Black Hills, and never have hunters harvested as many deer as they did in 2007," Huxoll said. "Continued increases in the number of licenses available, the number an individual hunter could possess, season dates which include the harvest of antlerless deer only, and a decrease in the fees for antlerless licenses have combined to result in the increase over the last few years."
Overall harvest success has declined in recent years to 48 percent from 54 percent in 2005, but remains relatively high despite an increase of more than 20,000 in the number of tags issued. The number of deer tags issued has more than doubled from 88,000 in 1999 to 181,000 in 2007. Most of the harvest increase consisted of whitetail does, which has also more than doubled from 16,500 in 1999 to 36,600 in 2007.
"The decrease in harvest success in some areas is a good sign that the steps taken by the department to reduce the size of the deer population are having the desired effect," Huxoll said.
"However, the department remains cautious regarding backing off on the pressure that has been applied to reduce and control the population in recent years. Some areas of the state will likely see reductions in tag numbers in 2008, but other areas will likely increase or remain steady."
The 2007 Big Game Harvest Projections Report is complete and can be accessed through the GFP website at http://www.sdgfp.info in the "What's New" section, or it can be requested by mail or in person in printed form from the Pierre office at 523 E. Capitol Ave.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4mos9t
Friday, June 06, 2008
NEW ZEALAND NEWS: RFID Tags for All Farmed Deer By 2011
Can the U.S. be far behind? Sadly, yes.
New Zealand's Stuff has reported that by 2011 all cattle and deer on the island nation of four million people are likely to be RFID tagged. The initiative is part of a multimillion dollar allocation by the New Zealand government to strengthen biosecurity protections.
While there are already a dozen RFID trials underway at farms around the country, there is as yet no centralized, national database to track tagged animals. This according to Ian Corney, chair of the National Animal Identification and Tracing project and a farmer himself. Clearly such a database is necessary for livestock tracking to be effective. "What it means, now, is the traceability database can get built and we can get on with the job," Corney was quoted in reference to the new government funding.
Corney indicated that the tagging will be essentially mandatory but that there will not be new legislation for it. "There are several mechanisms that can be worked around," he said.
The total biosecurity allocation is NZ$23.3 million, or roughly US$19 million. The money for the animal tagging will be a subset of that. In addition to containing the outbreak of disease, predicted benefits from the RFID system include improved livestock management for farmers, as well as the ability to present consumers with more information about where their meat comes from.
Cattle are slated to be tagged first, with deer to follow. Depending on the success of the system, other animals could be tagged after that, including sheep (no small feat given the nation's claim that sheep outnumber people ten-to-one).
Source: http://www.rfidupdate.com/news/06052008.html
New Zealand's Stuff has reported that by 2011 all cattle and deer on the island nation of four million people are likely to be RFID tagged. The initiative is part of a multimillion dollar allocation by the New Zealand government to strengthen biosecurity protections.
While there are already a dozen RFID trials underway at farms around the country, there is as yet no centralized, national database to track tagged animals. This according to Ian Corney, chair of the National Animal Identification and Tracing project and a farmer himself. Clearly such a database is necessary for livestock tracking to be effective. "What it means, now, is the traceability database can get built and we can get on with the job," Corney was quoted in reference to the new government funding.
Corney indicated that the tagging will be essentially mandatory but that there will not be new legislation for it. "There are several mechanisms that can be worked around," he said.
The total biosecurity allocation is NZ$23.3 million, or roughly US$19 million. The money for the animal tagging will be a subset of that. In addition to containing the outbreak of disease, predicted benefits from the RFID system include improved livestock management for farmers, as well as the ability to present consumers with more information about where their meat comes from.
Cattle are slated to be tagged first, with deer to follow. Depending on the success of the system, other animals could be tagged after that, including sheep (no small feat given the nation's claim that sheep outnumber people ten-to-one).
Source: http://www.rfidupdate.com/news/06052008.html
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
COLORADO NEWS: Winter Feeding of Elk a "Success"
While 90% of the elk survived the winter, the feeding also weakened the gene pool and increased the population's susceptibility to disease.
KUSA – The Colorado Division of Wildlife is counting last winter's deer feeding program in the Gunnison Valley a tremendous success.
Extremely heavy snow all winter kept deer in the area from reaching normal forage, according to the DOW.
More than 200 DOW volunteers and staff provided food for much of the winter. The cost of the feeding program was approximately $1.5 million.
According to a DOW spokesperson, they were able to feed about 9,600 deer in the valley, saving more than 90 percent of the population.
DOW was unable to reach all the deer in the valley during last winter's heavy snow storms because many were in inaccessible areas.
The number of 2008 fall hunting licenses for doe mule deer will be extremely limited in the Gunnison Valley. DOW is using caution this season to ensure a healthy, stable population of deer.
Division of Wildlife's winter feeding program in the Eagle valley was also a success. Licenses in the Eagle Valley area will not be cut back as dramatically as in the Gunnison Valley.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/489lec
KUSA – The Colorado Division of Wildlife is counting last winter's deer feeding program in the Gunnison Valley a tremendous success.
Extremely heavy snow all winter kept deer in the area from reaching normal forage, according to the DOW.
More than 200 DOW volunteers and staff provided food for much of the winter. The cost of the feeding program was approximately $1.5 million.
According to a DOW spokesperson, they were able to feed about 9,600 deer in the valley, saving more than 90 percent of the population.
DOW was unable to reach all the deer in the valley during last winter's heavy snow storms because many were in inaccessible areas.
The number of 2008 fall hunting licenses for doe mule deer will be extremely limited in the Gunnison Valley. DOW is using caution this season to ensure a healthy, stable population of deer.
Division of Wildlife's winter feeding program in the Eagle valley was also a success. Licenses in the Eagle Valley area will not be cut back as dramatically as in the Gunnison Valley.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/489lec
WYOMING NEWS: Lawsuit Filed to Block Feeding Elk
Environmentalists filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in an effort to stop a federal wildlife refuge in Wyoming from continuing its longtime practice of feeding wild elk. They say such feeding could lead to or worsen an outbreak of chronic wasting disease in the large wildlife populations around Yellowstone National Park.
Chronic wasting disease causes brain lesions in elk and deer that result in neurological damage and death. Animals with the disease must be killed to avoid spreading it, but there is no evidence it can be passed to humans by exposure although more research is being done.
Discovered in a Colorado research facility in the 1960s, chronic wasting disease has forced biologists to kill hundreds of infected wild deer from Wisconsin to Wyoming and thousands of others that are not infected to keep the disease from spreading.
Chronic wasting disease has been found just 70 or so miles from the ecosystem that includes the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyo., and Yellowstone National Park, worrying environmentalists that it could sicken and kill animals in and around the park.
Wildlife biologists warn that feeding the animals that crowd together at the National Elk Refuge and at 22 other state feeding grounds in Wyoming is likely to worsen any outbreak of chronic wasting disease. Conditions at feed lots increase disease rates up to 10 times those found in the wild because diseases are passed rapidly among animals in close contact.
“If you crowd animals together, you’ll increase the probability of transmission,” said Markus Peterson, a wildlife-disease scientist from Texas A&M University. “They really need to rethink the feeding of elk in Wyoming.”
Environmentalists and others say the crowding of elk into the refuge at Jackson has sharply altered natural conditions. About 8,300 elk winter there.
“Basically, we’ve got way too many animals on too small an area for too long a time,” said Barry Reiswig, a retired refuge manager who now lives near Cody, Wyo. “They’re way over the elk refuge’s carrying capacity.”
The refuge’s current manager, Steve Kallin, said he had not seen the lawsuit. Asked about concern that feeding the elk could foster disease, Mr. Kallin said, “We’re looking at managing to minimize that potential.”
Wyoming’s economy would be affected by ending the feeding of elk at the refuge, which has become a tourist attraction. Last winter more than 25,000 people paid $16 each to ride on sleighs pulled by horses among herds of elk on snow-covered landscapes. In addition, ranchers do not want hungry wild elk competing with their cattle for food, and hunting outfitters want assurances that plenty of animals will be available for their clients to stalk.
The adjacent states of Montana and Idaho have banned the feeding of elk because of the risk of disease. Environmentalists said a plan completed by the refuge in 2007 acknowledged the seriousness of the threat, but did not recommend ending the feeding, which began a century ago during a harsh winter, to keep the elk from starvation.
If prions, the agents that cause chronic wasting disease, were to sweep through the refuge, experts say, they could live in the soil for decades and force the 25,000-acre refuge to close.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., by Earthjustice, on behalf of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Wyoming Outdoor Council and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, was against only the National Elk Refuge, and not the State of Wyoming, because the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act requires that wildlife refuges be managed in a way that keeps the land and wildlife healthy. The law does not apply to state-managed wildlife.
Signs of other diseases that are spread more quickly through crowding, like brucellosis, scabies and hoof rot are present in the refuge, environmentalists say. Brucellosis, which causes cattle to abort their young, has been a particular problem in the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem. In Wyoming and Idaho the disease has been passed from elk or bison to cattle.
source: http://tinyurl.com/3hopp6
Chronic wasting disease causes brain lesions in elk and deer that result in neurological damage and death. Animals with the disease must be killed to avoid spreading it, but there is no evidence it can be passed to humans by exposure although more research is being done.
Discovered in a Colorado research facility in the 1960s, chronic wasting disease has forced biologists to kill hundreds of infected wild deer from Wisconsin to Wyoming and thousands of others that are not infected to keep the disease from spreading.
Chronic wasting disease has been found just 70 or so miles from the ecosystem that includes the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyo., and Yellowstone National Park, worrying environmentalists that it could sicken and kill animals in and around the park.
Wildlife biologists warn that feeding the animals that crowd together at the National Elk Refuge and at 22 other state feeding grounds in Wyoming is likely to worsen any outbreak of chronic wasting disease. Conditions at feed lots increase disease rates up to 10 times those found in the wild because diseases are passed rapidly among animals in close contact.
“If you crowd animals together, you’ll increase the probability of transmission,” said Markus Peterson, a wildlife-disease scientist from Texas A&M University. “They really need to rethink the feeding of elk in Wyoming.”
Environmentalists and others say the crowding of elk into the refuge at Jackson has sharply altered natural conditions. About 8,300 elk winter there.
“Basically, we’ve got way too many animals on too small an area for too long a time,” said Barry Reiswig, a retired refuge manager who now lives near Cody, Wyo. “They’re way over the elk refuge’s carrying capacity.”
The refuge’s current manager, Steve Kallin, said he had not seen the lawsuit. Asked about concern that feeding the elk could foster disease, Mr. Kallin said, “We’re looking at managing to minimize that potential.”
Wyoming’s economy would be affected by ending the feeding of elk at the refuge, which has become a tourist attraction. Last winter more than 25,000 people paid $16 each to ride on sleighs pulled by horses among herds of elk on snow-covered landscapes. In addition, ranchers do not want hungry wild elk competing with their cattle for food, and hunting outfitters want assurances that plenty of animals will be available for their clients to stalk.
The adjacent states of Montana and Idaho have banned the feeding of elk because of the risk of disease. Environmentalists said a plan completed by the refuge in 2007 acknowledged the seriousness of the threat, but did not recommend ending the feeding, which began a century ago during a harsh winter, to keep the elk from starvation.
If prions, the agents that cause chronic wasting disease, were to sweep through the refuge, experts say, they could live in the soil for decades and force the 25,000-acre refuge to close.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., by Earthjustice, on behalf of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Wyoming Outdoor Council and the National Wildlife Refuge Association, was against only the National Elk Refuge, and not the State of Wyoming, because the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act requires that wildlife refuges be managed in a way that keeps the land and wildlife healthy. The law does not apply to state-managed wildlife.
Signs of other diseases that are spread more quickly through crowding, like brucellosis, scabies and hoof rot are present in the refuge, environmentalists say. Brucellosis, which causes cattle to abort their young, has been a particular problem in the Great Yellowstone Ecosystem. In Wyoming and Idaho the disease has been passed from elk or bison to cattle.
source: http://tinyurl.com/3hopp6
MASSACHUSETTS NEWS: Deer in the Suburbs
Joanne Whooten knew deer had been near her Middleboro home this past winter by looking at the shrubs on her front lawn.
“The deer came and they ate them,” said Whooten, 46, a Purchade Street resident. “They ate the buds right off of them.”
The deer population in southeastern Massachusetts has more than doubled in the past decade, wildlife officials say, and it is showing up in nibbled shrubs, chewed up vegetable gardens and more close calls and collisions for motorists.
“We get it all the time,” said Philip Wyman, owner of Wyman’s Nursery in Hanson.
“People come in with the branch of a shrub that’s obviously been eaten by a deer,” he said. “They say, ‘I don’t have deer in my yard. I don’t live in the woods.’ But that’s what it is.”
The goal of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is a deer population of 15 to 20 deer per square mile in Bristol and Plymouth counties. But estimates from the 2007 hunting season place the area’s deer population at between 20 and 25 deer per square mile, with some areas as high as 30 per square mile. Brockton, Abington, Hanover, Whitman, Rockland, Taunton and Norton are all on the higher end of that range, said Jason Zimmer, southeast district supervisor for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Overall, deer populations are down from the all-time highs reached in 2005, but development, a declining number of hunters and more restrictions on people who do hunt are keeping the populations up.
“It’s been getting much worse,” Wyman said. “People around here are seeing a lot more deer.”
In some other parts of the state, hunting has kept the deer population in check. But residential development in this region has reduced wooded areas, where hunting is easier and more efficient.
Additionally, several towns have enacted recent firearm laws that have further restricted hunting.
In 2006, Brockton city councilors tabled a proposed ordinance that would have banned bow hunting, one of the primary ways to manage the deer population.
“It’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth to hunt around here, and to me, it’s a straight line between that and the deer problem,” said William Hart, Pembroke’s animal control officer and an avid hunter.
Nature may also be playing a role this time of year. May and June are fawn season, when the doe population is especially active.
Without a revival of hunting in southeastern Massachusetts, the deer population will likely remain high, wildlife officials said.
The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife will present its recommendations next month to the Fish and Game Board, which will allocate hunting permits for the 2008 season.
State wildlife officials do not expect drastic changes from last year, when 9,300 antlerless-deer permits were issued.
Meanwhile, doctors treating suspected cases of Lyme disease are also on the lookout for other tick-borne diseases — babesiosis and anaplasmosis — that are on the rise as the local deer population increases.
“When we try to inform doctors about tick-borne diseases, we mention all three,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of epidemiology for the state Department of Public Health.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/59g8ak
“The deer came and they ate them,” said Whooten, 46, a Purchade Street resident. “They ate the buds right off of them.”
The deer population in southeastern Massachusetts has more than doubled in the past decade, wildlife officials say, and it is showing up in nibbled shrubs, chewed up vegetable gardens and more close calls and collisions for motorists.
“We get it all the time,” said Philip Wyman, owner of Wyman’s Nursery in Hanson.
“People come in with the branch of a shrub that’s obviously been eaten by a deer,” he said. “They say, ‘I don’t have deer in my yard. I don’t live in the woods.’ But that’s what it is.”
The goal of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife is a deer population of 15 to 20 deer per square mile in Bristol and Plymouth counties. But estimates from the 2007 hunting season place the area’s deer population at between 20 and 25 deer per square mile, with some areas as high as 30 per square mile. Brockton, Abington, Hanover, Whitman, Rockland, Taunton and Norton are all on the higher end of that range, said Jason Zimmer, southeast district supervisor for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Overall, deer populations are down from the all-time highs reached in 2005, but development, a declining number of hunters and more restrictions on people who do hunt are keeping the populations up.
“It’s been getting much worse,” Wyman said. “People around here are seeing a lot more deer.”
In some other parts of the state, hunting has kept the deer population in check. But residential development in this region has reduced wooded areas, where hunting is easier and more efficient.
Additionally, several towns have enacted recent firearm laws that have further restricted hunting.
In 2006, Brockton city councilors tabled a proposed ordinance that would have banned bow hunting, one of the primary ways to manage the deer population.
“It’s sometimes more trouble than it’s worth to hunt around here, and to me, it’s a straight line between that and the deer problem,” said William Hart, Pembroke’s animal control officer and an avid hunter.
Nature may also be playing a role this time of year. May and June are fawn season, when the doe population is especially active.
Without a revival of hunting in southeastern Massachusetts, the deer population will likely remain high, wildlife officials said.
The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife will present its recommendations next month to the Fish and Game Board, which will allocate hunting permits for the 2008 season.
State wildlife officials do not expect drastic changes from last year, when 9,300 antlerless-deer permits were issued.
Meanwhile, doctors treating suspected cases of Lyme disease are also on the lookout for other tick-borne diseases — babesiosis and anaplasmosis — that are on the rise as the local deer population increases.
“When we try to inform doctors about tick-borne diseases, we mention all three,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of epidemiology for the state Department of Public Health.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/59g8ak
Thursday, May 22, 2008
NEW BRUNSWICK NEWS: Significant Winter Deer Mortality in 2008
Fewer deer hunting licences will be available this year because of the high mortality rate for deer over the winter, says the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources.
About 25,000 deer died over the winter months in New Brunswick, because of starvation, predation and collisions with cars, said Rod Cumberland, a biologist with the department.
About a quarter of the province's deer population died during the winter, Cumberland said.
In the north, where the most snow fell, the mortality rate reached about 34 per cent, he said.
The heavy snow cover in the province made it difficult for deer to find food, and the crusty snow conditions made them easy prey for predators, Cumberland said.
The mortality rate is about double the usual figure for a winter in the province, he said, which means the province will offer fewer hunting licences for deer.
"Two-thirds of the province will see a decline in their licences," he said. "They might even be as scarce as hen's teeth in some places."
Regulating the number of licences, especially for does, will give the herd time to recuperate from the winter's losses, he said.
"It minimizes what we take as hunters, so the herd can get a jump start and start growing again in some of these areas where we'd like to see more deer."
It will take about two years for the province's deer herd to recover from the winter, Cumberland said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6axf9g
About 25,000 deer died over the winter months in New Brunswick, because of starvation, predation and collisions with cars, said Rod Cumberland, a biologist with the department.
About a quarter of the province's deer population died during the winter, Cumberland said.
In the north, where the most snow fell, the mortality rate reached about 34 per cent, he said.
The heavy snow cover in the province made it difficult for deer to find food, and the crusty snow conditions made them easy prey for predators, Cumberland said.
The mortality rate is about double the usual figure for a winter in the province, he said, which means the province will offer fewer hunting licences for deer.
"Two-thirds of the province will see a decline in their licences," he said. "They might even be as scarce as hen's teeth in some places."
Regulating the number of licences, especially for does, will give the herd time to recuperate from the winter's losses, he said.
"It minimizes what we take as hunters, so the herd can get a jump start and start growing again in some of these areas where we'd like to see more deer."
It will take about two years for the province's deer herd to recover from the winter, Cumberland said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6axf9g
UK NEWS: Muntjac Cull at Bardney's Limewoods
A TWO-DAY deer cull took place in Bardney's Limewoods, including Chambers Farm Wood in early April, the Forestry Commission revealed. It was part of a county wide ongoing operation.
A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission said: “The aim for this species is to create a sustainable and healthy deer population.“
“If left unchecked, increasing deer numbers would cause significant damage to the biodiversity of our woodlands Muntjac deer in particular uproot wildflowers, like bluebells, and over time destroy the flora of ancient woodlands like Chambers.”
Wildlife ranger Malcolm Armstrong said the growing population of deer was endangering certain species of plant in woodland across the county.
He said reports of road accidents involving deer were also increasing.
"There's certain plants that grow in here that deer favour, so when the deer population expands they are going to eat those plants out of existence.”
Mr Armstrong, who is also head of field operations for the Lincolnshire Deer Group, said the cull would be ongoing and carried out by qualified marksmen.
"Shooting is by far the most humane method," he said.
Mr Armstrong said an ongoing cull was also expected to take place next year.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4n2uq3
A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission said: “The aim for this species is to create a sustainable and healthy deer population.“
“If left unchecked, increasing deer numbers would cause significant damage to the biodiversity of our woodlands Muntjac deer in particular uproot wildflowers, like bluebells, and over time destroy the flora of ancient woodlands like Chambers.”
Wildlife ranger Malcolm Armstrong said the growing population of deer was endangering certain species of plant in woodland across the county.
He said reports of road accidents involving deer were also increasing.
"There's certain plants that grow in here that deer favour, so when the deer population expands they are going to eat those plants out of existence.”
Mr Armstrong, who is also head of field operations for the Lincolnshire Deer Group, said the cull would be ongoing and carried out by qualified marksmen.
"Shooting is by far the most humane method," he said.
Mr Armstrong said an ongoing cull was also expected to take place next year.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4n2uq3
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
NEW JERSEY NEWS: Arboretum Considers $142000 Deer Fence
Erecting a deer fence completely around the 22-acre Shaw Arboretum at Holmdel Park may not be neighbor-friendly or cost-efficient, members of the Monmouth County Board of Recreation Commissioners said at their meeting at Tatum Park on Monday night.
The project will cost at least $142,000 based on bids that have been received, but the board is not expected to take action until its June 9 meeting.
The proposal was spurred by increasing amounts of damage caused by deer to expensive specimen trees donated to the arboretum local arborists, said Bruce A. Gollnick, assistant director of the parks.
"We're not interested in putting up fences. We don't like it," Gollnick said. "Fences cost money, they cause problems, they need repairs."
A handful of residents have communicated concerns about the placement of a 10-foot-high fence near their properties, though board Chairman Edward Loud said he believes that issue has been exaggerated.
"If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't see it," Loud said of the proposed fence.
But other commissioners pushed for more study of the matter.
"Is it necessary to encapsulate the entire area and spend that kind of money?" Commissioner N. Britt Raynor asked, while fellow board member Michael G. Harmon said such fences tend to corral creatures — not only deer — that enter the fenced property at gate openings but can't escape.
"I'm not sure that fencing in 22 acres is not overreaching," Harmon said. "I also think we do what we can to be good neighbors. I don't think somebody who lives right next to the property should need to get in their car and drive all the way around to an entry point. We also push the deer onto nearby properties if we use the fence."
The $142,000 price was the lower of two bids opened last Friday. It was submitted by Accent Fence Inc. of Egg Harbor City; the other bid was a $202,000 offer from National Fence Systems Inc. of Woodbridge.
The fence would stretch about 1,650 feet. The park system in 2003 spent more than $180,000 to fence the 52-acre Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown.
The arboretum is named for David C. Shaw, former superintendent of the Shade Tree Commission. According to the Monmouth County government Web site, the arboretum was started in 1963 with plantings of crab apples, cherries and hollies, and the area now contains nearly 3,000 trees and shrubs.
Park system officials said future donations of materials could be withheld if steps aren't taken to protect the existing stock.
Source: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/NEWS01/805210427
The project will cost at least $142,000 based on bids that have been received, but the board is not expected to take action until its June 9 meeting.
The proposal was spurred by increasing amounts of damage caused by deer to expensive specimen trees donated to the arboretum local arborists, said Bruce A. Gollnick, assistant director of the parks.
"We're not interested in putting up fences. We don't like it," Gollnick said. "Fences cost money, they cause problems, they need repairs."
A handful of residents have communicated concerns about the placement of a 10-foot-high fence near their properties, though board Chairman Edward Loud said he believes that issue has been exaggerated.
"If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't see it," Loud said of the proposed fence.
But other commissioners pushed for more study of the matter.
"Is it necessary to encapsulate the entire area and spend that kind of money?" Commissioner N. Britt Raynor asked, while fellow board member Michael G. Harmon said such fences tend to corral creatures — not only deer — that enter the fenced property at gate openings but can't escape.
"I'm not sure that fencing in 22 acres is not overreaching," Harmon said. "I also think we do what we can to be good neighbors. I don't think somebody who lives right next to the property should need to get in their car and drive all the way around to an entry point. We also push the deer onto nearby properties if we use the fence."
The $142,000 price was the lower of two bids opened last Friday. It was submitted by Accent Fence Inc. of Egg Harbor City; the other bid was a $202,000 offer from National Fence Systems Inc. of Woodbridge.
The fence would stretch about 1,650 feet. The park system in 2003 spent more than $180,000 to fence the 52-acre Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown.
The arboretum is named for David C. Shaw, former superintendent of the Shade Tree Commission. According to the Monmouth County government Web site, the arboretum was started in 1963 with plantings of crab apples, cherries and hollies, and the area now contains nearly 3,000 trees and shrubs.
Park system officials said future donations of materials could be withheld if steps aren't taken to protect the existing stock.
Source: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/NEWS01/805210427
UK NEWS: Muntjac Deer Cull Underway in Lincolnshire
Hundreds of deer will be killed across Lincolnshire in a bid to control the population.
Malcolm Armstrong, a wildlife ranger for the Forestry Commission and head of field operations for the Lincolnshire Deer Group, said the cull would be ongoing and be carried out by qualified marksmen.
He said: "Culls have always happened in the area but deer are becoming more and more prevalent in Lincolnshire."
Around 200 deer are usually killed in Lincolnshire every year in an attempt to manage populations but this year's total may be higher.
A one-off cull in April has already seen the killing of 41 deer.
The small muntjac deer browse on low-lying plant life and have been damaging populations of bluebells and wild orchids.
Mr Armstrong said: "Muntjac really like to eat low ground plants and that really creates a problem with the flora and fauna in some woods.
"If populations get really high then rather than deer being a cute animal that people want to see they can become a pest.
"If the general deer population gets too large then they can start to pick up diseases and we need to strike a balance in management."
Muntjac deer thrive in temperate conditions and have become increasingly common in England due to climatic change and warmer winters.
Any deer killed in the operations will be sold on for human consumption.
To find out more about the cull of Lincolnshire deer, see Wednesday's Echo.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4yj9nw
Malcolm Armstrong, a wildlife ranger for the Forestry Commission and head of field operations for the Lincolnshire Deer Group, said the cull would be ongoing and be carried out by qualified marksmen.
He said: "Culls have always happened in the area but deer are becoming more and more prevalent in Lincolnshire."
Around 200 deer are usually killed in Lincolnshire every year in an attempt to manage populations but this year's total may be higher.
A one-off cull in April has already seen the killing of 41 deer.
The small muntjac deer browse on low-lying plant life and have been damaging populations of bluebells and wild orchids.
Mr Armstrong said: "Muntjac really like to eat low ground plants and that really creates a problem with the flora and fauna in some woods.
"If populations get really high then rather than deer being a cute animal that people want to see they can become a pest.
"If the general deer population gets too large then they can start to pick up diseases and we need to strike a balance in management."
Muntjac deer thrive in temperate conditions and have become increasingly common in England due to climatic change and warmer winters.
Any deer killed in the operations will be sold on for human consumption.
To find out more about the cull of Lincolnshire deer, see Wednesday's Echo.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/4yj9nw
HOW TO: Build A Deer-Proof Fence For Your Garden
When I moved to our property on Farm To Market Road in Whitefish, Montana, I chose to build a deer-proof fence to last 100 years. Though there is a path around the outside liberally sprinkled with deer dropping, no deer have gotten in for the past seven years. And I did it all myself.
Materials
Field fencing (4 ft. high hog wire)
5 six inch pieces of iron pipe, 10 ft long
Fencing pliers
Roll of smooth wire
Cement and sand/gravel mix
Fence post digger
Chain link gate, or one made from pipe and wire
Drill for hinge attachment
Fence stretcher
Coffee cans
L Bolt for hinge
T posts, 10 ft tall
1. Dig holes 2-3 feet deep (to frost line) at the corners of your garden, and one extra for a gatepost.
2. Mix cement as directed on the package with sand and gravel.
3. Insert the iron pipe into the holes, plumb with a strong and plumb bob.
4. Fill with cement mixture and let set for a couple of days.
5. Run a string between your posts and measure every 8 to 10 feet for placement of T-bars.
6. Pound the T-bars for a 2-foot depth, in line between the iron posts (I stood on the truck cab to do this).
7. Cut vertical cross wires out of two feet of the end of your field fencing.
8. Starting at the bottom, wrap horizontal wires around the post. Secure by twisting ends of wire around the first vertical wire tightly.
9. Unroll wire past the T posts to the gate and corner posts.
10. Attach a fence stretcher to the wire to tighten it along the fence posts, or pull with an attachment to your truck, or use a come along. Attach stretched fencing to the posts with wire fencing clips.
11. On fence corners, use smooth wire to attach each horizontal strand to the pipe.
12. At the end post, cut off vertical cross wires for two feet of horizontal wire to wrap and twist around the end post for secure fastening.
13. Repeat for the top 4 feet of field fence.
14. Wire top to the bottom strands by weaving smooth wire between the middle edges of the two fencing pieces.
15. Fit gate between the gate and corner post. Position so it is 6" off the ground for snow clearance and possible sagging.
16. Mark the hinge placement of the gatepost. Drill holes straight through the gatepost, and fit with a long L shaped bolt that can be tightened on the far side of the gatepost.
17. Use commercial chain link attachments or fit pipe gate with pipe clamps to hook onto the hinge.
Source: http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-65-70-1558,00.html
Materials
Field fencing (4 ft. high hog wire)
5 six inch pieces of iron pipe, 10 ft long
Fencing pliers
Roll of smooth wire
Cement and sand/gravel mix
Fence post digger
Chain link gate, or one made from pipe and wire
Drill for hinge attachment
Fence stretcher
Coffee cans
L Bolt for hinge
T posts, 10 ft tall
1. Dig holes 2-3 feet deep (to frost line) at the corners of your garden, and one extra for a gatepost.
2. Mix cement as directed on the package with sand and gravel.
3. Insert the iron pipe into the holes, plumb with a strong and plumb bob.
4. Fill with cement mixture and let set for a couple of days.
5. Run a string between your posts and measure every 8 to 10 feet for placement of T-bars.
6. Pound the T-bars for a 2-foot depth, in line between the iron posts (I stood on the truck cab to do this).
7. Cut vertical cross wires out of two feet of the end of your field fencing.
8. Starting at the bottom, wrap horizontal wires around the post. Secure by twisting ends of wire around the first vertical wire tightly.
9. Unroll wire past the T posts to the gate and corner posts.
10. Attach a fence stretcher to the wire to tighten it along the fence posts, or pull with an attachment to your truck, or use a come along. Attach stretched fencing to the posts with wire fencing clips.
11. On fence corners, use smooth wire to attach each horizontal strand to the pipe.
12. At the end post, cut off vertical cross wires for two feet of horizontal wire to wrap and twist around the end post for secure fastening.
13. Repeat for the top 4 feet of field fence.
14. Wire top to the bottom strands by weaving smooth wire between the middle edges of the two fencing pieces.
15. Fit gate between the gate and corner post. Position so it is 6" off the ground for snow clearance and possible sagging.
16. Mark the hinge placement of the gatepost. Drill holes straight through the gatepost, and fit with a long L shaped bolt that can be tightened on the far side of the gatepost.
17. Use commercial chain link attachments or fit pipe gate with pipe clamps to hook onto the hinge.
Source: http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-65-70-1558,00.html
Monday, May 19, 2008
IOWA NEWS: Sustained Cull Reduces Urban Deer in Dubuque
Urban deer-population surveys are inexact science, but the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Commission will present its deer-management plan to the Dubuque City Council on Monday with some good news.
The aerial count conducted in February recorded the fewest deer in the city limits since the bow-hunting program began in 1998, at 219. That figure comes after an unusually high number in 2007, when 466 deer were counted.
Greg Harris, wildlife depredation biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, monitors the aerial surveys in eastern Iowa. He said counts are down or stable everywhere except Muscatine, which saw a spike.
"It's nice to see the numbers down, but you can't explain it by the harvest," Harris said. "There are other factors involved and habitat destruction is one. That's something you can see through the air."
Harris also said the bitter winter probably forced deer to travel farther afield.
"If they're starving and there are food sources outside the city, they will move, and (they) won't move back in right away," Harris said.
The Dubuque City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Historic Federal Building, 350 West Sixth St. "Those does will drift back in."
The bow hunt, which opens in late October and runs through late January, targets does to control population growth. The city's goal is to stabilize the population below 20 deer per square mile. While that measure is often met north of U.S. 20, it hasn't been accomplished south of that line. According to Harris, reaching that "magic number" isn't of high importance.
"The better goal to shoot for is a reduction in damage and in deer/vehicle accidents," Harris said.
Mary Rose Corrigan, public health specialist for the city of Dubuque, reports deer/vehicle crashes dropped significantly in 2007 to 29. There were 48 in 2006, which bucked a trend of fewer accidents in recent years. From 1998 to 2001, deer/vehicle crashes averaged in the 40s, Corrigan said.
The city is divided into 12 deer-management zones. Harris said two zones that regularly have the highest deer concentrations also have some larger-property owners that don't allow hunters. One area encompasses nearly 2,100 acres in the northeast corner of the city, south of John Deere Dubuque Works and east of Central Avenue. The other is 536 acres south of U.S. 20, mostly between Fremont Avenue and Cedar Cross Road.
"The bottom line is there is always going to be a problem because of private-property rights," Harris said. "It would be easier if everyone allowed the hunters in, but that doesn't happen in rural areas, so it sure isn't going to happen in the city.
He said the key to population control is consistency.
"Once you start hunting, you can't stop. Let's say you hit this man-made magical number of 20 per mile and let up for a couple of years -- you're right back to square one. We come up with these parameters and want to fit wildlife into them. Wildlife doesn't play by man's rules."
Source: http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=202217
The aerial count conducted in February recorded the fewest deer in the city limits since the bow-hunting program began in 1998, at 219. That figure comes after an unusually high number in 2007, when 466 deer were counted.
Greg Harris, wildlife depredation biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, monitors the aerial surveys in eastern Iowa. He said counts are down or stable everywhere except Muscatine, which saw a spike.
"It's nice to see the numbers down, but you can't explain it by the harvest," Harris said. "There are other factors involved and habitat destruction is one. That's something you can see through the air."
Harris also said the bitter winter probably forced deer to travel farther afield.
"If they're starving and there are food sources outside the city, they will move, and (they) won't move back in right away," Harris said.
The Dubuque City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Historic Federal Building, 350 West Sixth St. "Those does will drift back in."
The bow hunt, which opens in late October and runs through late January, targets does to control population growth. The city's goal is to stabilize the population below 20 deer per square mile. While that measure is often met north of U.S. 20, it hasn't been accomplished south of that line. According to Harris, reaching that "magic number" isn't of high importance.
"The better goal to shoot for is a reduction in damage and in deer/vehicle accidents," Harris said.
Mary Rose Corrigan, public health specialist for the city of Dubuque, reports deer/vehicle crashes dropped significantly in 2007 to 29. There were 48 in 2006, which bucked a trend of fewer accidents in recent years. From 1998 to 2001, deer/vehicle crashes averaged in the 40s, Corrigan said.
The city is divided into 12 deer-management zones. Harris said two zones that regularly have the highest deer concentrations also have some larger-property owners that don't allow hunters. One area encompasses nearly 2,100 acres in the northeast corner of the city, south of John Deere Dubuque Works and east of Central Avenue. The other is 536 acres south of U.S. 20, mostly between Fremont Avenue and Cedar Cross Road.
"The bottom line is there is always going to be a problem because of private-property rights," Harris said. "It would be easier if everyone allowed the hunters in, but that doesn't happen in rural areas, so it sure isn't going to happen in the city.
He said the key to population control is consistency.
"Once you start hunting, you can't stop. Let's say you hit this man-made magical number of 20 per mile and let up for a couple of years -- you're right back to square one. We come up with these parameters and want to fit wildlife into them. Wildlife doesn't play by man's rules."
Source: http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=202217
Thursday, May 15, 2008
WISCONSIN NEWS: City Bans Deer Feeding
OSHKOSH, Wis. - Oshkosh residents can no longer feed deer in the city.
The Oshkosh Common Council approved a ban on deer feeding Tuesday in an effort to discourage deer from entering urban areas.
People caught feeding deer can be fined nearly $220, when court costs are added to a base fine of $75.
Council members agreed to seek other suggestions for detering deer from the residents and the Humane Society of the United States. They also are looking at killing some deer in the fall or early winter.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6r94qx
The Oshkosh Common Council approved a ban on deer feeding Tuesday in an effort to discourage deer from entering urban areas.
People caught feeding deer can be fined nearly $220, when court costs are added to a base fine of $75.
Council members agreed to seek other suggestions for detering deer from the residents and the Humane Society of the United States. They also are looking at killing some deer in the fall or early winter.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6r94qx
MINNESOTA NEWS: Over 1200 Deer Killed in TB Cull
A total of 1,207 deer were killed by state and federal sharpshooters, hunters and landowners the past six months in bovine tuberculosis-infected northwest Minnesota, the state Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday.
The sharpshooting effort to remove deer started in February and ended Friday, the DNR said. Free-ranging deer, believed to be carriers of bovine TB to cattle, were targets of removal since the deer-hunting season closed last fall.
The concentrated bovine TB area for deer removal is basically northwest Beltrami County and southeast Roseau County, in the Skime area.
Brad Swenson Archive The deer population in the 164-square-mile core of the bovine TB disease management area was estimated at 800 animals during an aerial survey conducted in January before sharpshooting efforts began, the DNR said. Aerial sharpshooters took 416 deer and ground sharpshooters took 546 deer in and near the core area, bringing the 2008 sharpshooting total to 962 animals.
During the regular deer seasons, 1,449 deer were harvested in the bovine TB deer permit area, the DNR said. Hunters harvested an additional 120 deer a January special hunt. Since the close of the deer hunting seasons, landowners have taken an additional 125 deer in an area that was expanded to include private lands to the north of deer permit Area 101. In total, 2,656 deer have been taken from September 2007 to May 2008.
“The large take is evidence of the extraordinary effort that has been underway since autumn,” Dave Schad, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division director, said in a statement. “This has been a highly successful operation that has gone a long way toward achieving our goal of eliminating bovine TB in deer.”
The state of Minnesota is under the federal designation of Modified Accredited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the third of five categories which outlines strict regulations for the testing and movement of cattle across state lines for bovine TB.
Hopes are to see the state split into two zones, with a concentrated bovine TB management area in northwest Minnesota, and classifying the rest of the state as TB Free.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed into law last week measures to allow the Minnesota Board of Animal Health authority to increase livestock testing, tighten restrictions on animal movement, provide cost-share assistance for fencing in certain areas and offers to “buy out” livestock owners in the bovine TB management zone.
“This disease is an economic burden for our beef producers, and we are committed to eradicating it as quickly as possible,” state Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Joe Martin, the state’s bovine TB response coordinator, said last week.
“We had strong, bipartisan support for this legislation from legislators, producers, and industry groups such as the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association,” he said.
“This critical legislation will provide the Board of Animal Health the authority they need to restrict movement of livestock within the bovine TB management zone and implement split-state status,” said Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation President Kevin Paap. “The bill also provides significant resources to control and eradicate bovine TB, including a voluntary herd buyout for cattle producers in the management zone and cost-share money for fencing.”
Paap added that the new law “bans wildlife feeding in the zone and establishes a temporary assessment of $1 per head on all beef cattle sold in Minnesota. Money collected from this assessment will go to the Board of Animal Health for bovine TB control efforts. This assessment shows how cattlemen across Minnesota are willing to contribute toward the eradication of bovine TB.”
Since the initial 2005 discovery of bovine TB in Minnesota, the state has identified 11 infected beef cattle herds—all in the northwest Minnesota counties of Beltrami and Roseau, the state Animal Health Board said. In addition, 20 infected deer have been confirmed to date in the same area, with several additional suspect deer awaiting final test results.
“This bill puts Minnesota in the position of being a national leader in controlling and combating bovine TB,” said Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, an author of the bill.
“Up to this point, there really has been no road map for dealing with this issue and other states have had only marginal success,” Skoe said. “This bill helps Minnesota lead the way toward eradicating the disease in our state and helping other states develop aggressive and successful plans.”
The final legislative plan will lay the groundwork for USDA split-state status in order to focus bovine TB eradication efforts only in affected areas, he said. The plan offers cattle producers an option to accept an animal-buyout or extensive fencing to control animal movement and help control the spread of the disease.
In addition, herd testing will continue to be required until TB-free status is regained, and deer eradication efforts will continue. The Department of Agriculture, Board of Animal Health and DNR all cooperated on the comprehensive plan, he said.
“With this bill, we’ll make significant progress toward no additional TB-positive test results in the state,” Skoe said.
Landowners and tenants, and their agents designated in writing, can continue to take deer without a permit in the landowner/tenant area under the provisions of a special emergency rule that took effect March 31, said the DNR’s Schad. The rule is currently scheduled to expire Aug. 31, but the rule may be modified or ended earlier in the summer based on discussions with local residents and landowners. A final decision will be made in the next several weeks.
The DNR will finalize plans for the fall hunting seasons in that area by July, he said. Specific details on permit area boundaries, special and regular hunts, and other provisions will be announced mid-summer.
Schad added that he appreciates the cooperation of private landowners during a difficult time. “We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without the assistance of local citizens and federal sharpshooters. Both deserve our thanks,” he said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5ez2s5
The sharpshooting effort to remove deer started in February and ended Friday, the DNR said. Free-ranging deer, believed to be carriers of bovine TB to cattle, were targets of removal since the deer-hunting season closed last fall.
The concentrated bovine TB area for deer removal is basically northwest Beltrami County and southeast Roseau County, in the Skime area.
Brad Swenson Archive The deer population in the 164-square-mile core of the bovine TB disease management area was estimated at 800 animals during an aerial survey conducted in January before sharpshooting efforts began, the DNR said. Aerial sharpshooters took 416 deer and ground sharpshooters took 546 deer in and near the core area, bringing the 2008 sharpshooting total to 962 animals.
During the regular deer seasons, 1,449 deer were harvested in the bovine TB deer permit area, the DNR said. Hunters harvested an additional 120 deer a January special hunt. Since the close of the deer hunting seasons, landowners have taken an additional 125 deer in an area that was expanded to include private lands to the north of deer permit Area 101. In total, 2,656 deer have been taken from September 2007 to May 2008.
“The large take is evidence of the extraordinary effort that has been underway since autumn,” Dave Schad, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division director, said in a statement. “This has been a highly successful operation that has gone a long way toward achieving our goal of eliminating bovine TB in deer.”
The state of Minnesota is under the federal designation of Modified Accredited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the third of five categories which outlines strict regulations for the testing and movement of cattle across state lines for bovine TB.
Hopes are to see the state split into two zones, with a concentrated bovine TB management area in northwest Minnesota, and classifying the rest of the state as TB Free.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed into law last week measures to allow the Minnesota Board of Animal Health authority to increase livestock testing, tighten restrictions on animal movement, provide cost-share assistance for fencing in certain areas and offers to “buy out” livestock owners in the bovine TB management zone.
“This disease is an economic burden for our beef producers, and we are committed to eradicating it as quickly as possible,” state Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Joe Martin, the state’s bovine TB response coordinator, said last week.
“We had strong, bipartisan support for this legislation from legislators, producers, and industry groups such as the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association,” he said.
“This critical legislation will provide the Board of Animal Health the authority they need to restrict movement of livestock within the bovine TB management zone and implement split-state status,” said Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation President Kevin Paap. “The bill also provides significant resources to control and eradicate bovine TB, including a voluntary herd buyout for cattle producers in the management zone and cost-share money for fencing.”
Paap added that the new law “bans wildlife feeding in the zone and establishes a temporary assessment of $1 per head on all beef cattle sold in Minnesota. Money collected from this assessment will go to the Board of Animal Health for bovine TB control efforts. This assessment shows how cattlemen across Minnesota are willing to contribute toward the eradication of bovine TB.”
Since the initial 2005 discovery of bovine TB in Minnesota, the state has identified 11 infected beef cattle herds—all in the northwest Minnesota counties of Beltrami and Roseau, the state Animal Health Board said. In addition, 20 infected deer have been confirmed to date in the same area, with several additional suspect deer awaiting final test results.
“This bill puts Minnesota in the position of being a national leader in controlling and combating bovine TB,” said Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, an author of the bill.
“Up to this point, there really has been no road map for dealing with this issue and other states have had only marginal success,” Skoe said. “This bill helps Minnesota lead the way toward eradicating the disease in our state and helping other states develop aggressive and successful plans.”
The final legislative plan will lay the groundwork for USDA split-state status in order to focus bovine TB eradication efforts only in affected areas, he said. The plan offers cattle producers an option to accept an animal-buyout or extensive fencing to control animal movement and help control the spread of the disease.
In addition, herd testing will continue to be required until TB-free status is regained, and deer eradication efforts will continue. The Department of Agriculture, Board of Animal Health and DNR all cooperated on the comprehensive plan, he said.
“With this bill, we’ll make significant progress toward no additional TB-positive test results in the state,” Skoe said.
Landowners and tenants, and their agents designated in writing, can continue to take deer without a permit in the landowner/tenant area under the provisions of a special emergency rule that took effect March 31, said the DNR’s Schad. The rule is currently scheduled to expire Aug. 31, but the rule may be modified or ended earlier in the summer based on discussions with local residents and landowners. A final decision will be made in the next several weeks.
The DNR will finalize plans for the fall hunting seasons in that area by July, he said. Specific details on permit area boundaries, special and regular hunts, and other provisions will be announced mid-summer.
Schad added that he appreciates the cooperation of private landowners during a difficult time. “We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without the assistance of local citizens and federal sharpshooters. Both deserve our thanks,” he said.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/5ez2s5
Friday, May 09, 2008
WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: More CWD Appears in Hampshire County
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Hampshire County remains an enigma to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources in its campaign to track down and understand why Chronic Wasting Disease is haunting deer in that popular hunting region.
Now that 11 more deer the DNR killed this spring have tested positive, the mystery has only deepened.
All told, 31 deer now have been afflicted with the ailment, a fatal neurological disorder found in deer and elk. To date, the only affected deer have turned up in Hampshire — a fact that puzzles the DNR’s assistant wildlife chief, Paul Johansen.
“That’s the $64,000 question,” he said Thursday.
“I’ve stayed up nights pondering that question. Why did it show up? How did it get here? The reality is we may never know. I guess the important thing is to make sure we do engage our management plan to try to put in place appropriate management strategies to try to address the disease.”
While not harmful to humans, cattle or other domestic animals, CWD is a death sentence to any deer or elk that contracts it.
Some hunter-harvested deer tested positive last fall in Hampshire, but so far, not a single CWD-infected whitetail has been discovered outside that county.
“We’re pleased to see from a distribution standpoint, looking at the landscape, all of those positives were pretty tightly confined to that geographic area around Slanesville, where the original index animal was,” Johansen said.
“We did not pick up any additional positives in that Yellow Springs area.”
For the past few years, the DNR has performed a statewide surveillance program but hasn’t found any CWD outside a small pocket of Hampshire, he said.
In fact, the original index animal surfaced Sept. 2, 2005, as part of the DNR’s roadkill surveillance, Johansen pointed out.
Besides roadkill vigilance, the DNR looks for the disease in targeted areas, seeking out any animals that exhibit the clinical signs of it.
“We try to get our hands on those as well,” he said.
Scientists believe the disorder is caused by abnormal, proteinaceous particles known as prions engaged in a slow assault of the brain, causing deer and elk to progressively become emaciated, display bizarre behavior and invariably die.
DNR Director Frank Jezioro said in a statement from his office that “some of the best wildlife biologists and veterinarians in the world” are working on CWD, including those at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Ga.
“Landowner and hunter cooperation throughout this entire CWD surveillance effort in Hampshire County has been excellent,” he said.
“As we strive to meet this wildlife disease challenge and implement appropriate management strategies, the continued support and involvement of landowners and hunters will be essential.”
Source: http://tinyurl.com/3gm9j3
Now that 11 more deer the DNR killed this spring have tested positive, the mystery has only deepened.
All told, 31 deer now have been afflicted with the ailment, a fatal neurological disorder found in deer and elk. To date, the only affected deer have turned up in Hampshire — a fact that puzzles the DNR’s assistant wildlife chief, Paul Johansen.
“That’s the $64,000 question,” he said Thursday.
“I’ve stayed up nights pondering that question. Why did it show up? How did it get here? The reality is we may never know. I guess the important thing is to make sure we do engage our management plan to try to put in place appropriate management strategies to try to address the disease.”
While not harmful to humans, cattle or other domestic animals, CWD is a death sentence to any deer or elk that contracts it.
Some hunter-harvested deer tested positive last fall in Hampshire, but so far, not a single CWD-infected whitetail has been discovered outside that county.
“We’re pleased to see from a distribution standpoint, looking at the landscape, all of those positives were pretty tightly confined to that geographic area around Slanesville, where the original index animal was,” Johansen said.
“We did not pick up any additional positives in that Yellow Springs area.”
For the past few years, the DNR has performed a statewide surveillance program but hasn’t found any CWD outside a small pocket of Hampshire, he said.
In fact, the original index animal surfaced Sept. 2, 2005, as part of the DNR’s roadkill surveillance, Johansen pointed out.
Besides roadkill vigilance, the DNR looks for the disease in targeted areas, seeking out any animals that exhibit the clinical signs of it.
“We try to get our hands on those as well,” he said.
Scientists believe the disorder is caused by abnormal, proteinaceous particles known as prions engaged in a slow assault of the brain, causing deer and elk to progressively become emaciated, display bizarre behavior and invariably die.
DNR Director Frank Jezioro said in a statement from his office that “some of the best wildlife biologists and veterinarians in the world” are working on CWD, including those at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study in Athens, Ga.
“Landowner and hunter cooperation throughout this entire CWD surveillance effort in Hampshire County has been excellent,” he said.
“As we strive to meet this wildlife disease challenge and implement appropriate management strategies, the continued support and involvement of landowners and hunters will be essential.”
Source: http://tinyurl.com/3gm9j3
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