Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I saw this on the local news tonight, the story aimed more towards deer hunting. So then I thought about the dog food I buy because I do get the venison type and I had no idea this wasting disease targeting deer was so widespread. I don't know how this disease is affecting the dog food industry or if they're concerned. Has anyone looked into this or has known about it?
Good point about the source of the deer. Hunted deer would not be a commercial product.
As for chronic wasting disease (CWD), it is a problem amongst deer population in some areas. It may be common in those areas, but I've gotten the idea it is not a problem for the US in general. I know it is not an issue in my area. Yet.
CWD is a big problem in my area. From what they have said the dissease is not a threat to humans or other annimals and is specific to deer. Hunters can have their kills tested but it is more to help the game department gatgher data on the dissease because it is killing a lot of animals and this has an effect on the population. I have seen dead deer along steam nbanks in areas that have been hit by the dissease in other years.
Meat used for dog food probable comes fromm farm raised deer that are carefully monitored for the illness.
"CWD was first detected in Colorado in the late 1960s. Since that time, it’s been found in deer, elk, moose and reindeer in 24 states.
It first turned up in far West Texas in 2012 in a mule deer.
Since it was first discovered in Texas, 65 cases have been confirmed, including three in the last week of November 2017. Sick deer have come from the wild and from five different deer breeding ranches. "
So it's not just wild deer.
I stay away from chicken in my dog and cat foods - I've gone with venison in BLUE and MERRICK and Taste of the Wild.
^^^This. I'm not sure you can even get any made with non-imported deer. What brand do you feed, OP?
I don't know...there are deer farms here in the US that grow deer for specialty food markets or for their antlers (not kidding.)
It is illegal to sell wild game meat in the US.
CWD has been around awhile...I remember 10 years or so ago when my dad's land was in the Disease Eradication Zone after it had been detected in Wisconsin. This was well before 2012 as cited in the article.
They opened up rifle season for an entire year it seemed like, lots of other measures...The hunting season took the population way down for a few years, which eliminated the density problem by and large (which was the point, its hard to spread it in sparser groups) but I don't know that they ever found tons of the disease.
Its almost identical, from what I know, as Mad Cow.
The human equivalent is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. There are only a handful of cases each year, they aren't totally sure what causes it or if it can develop from the same prions that cause CWD.
I don't know...there are deer farms here in the US that grow deer for specialty food markets or for their antlers (not kidding.)
. . .
It they are, I would be a bit surprised if they weren't selling the meat. I'd never heard of any farms in the US, but hey, what does that mean!
Re: CWD, from Texas A&M:
Quote:
The condition was first noted in 1967 in research mule deer herds in Colorado, but not confirmed as a TSE until the 1970s. By the late 1970s, CWD was recognized in captive facilities in Colorado and Wyoming in mule deer, black-tailed deer, and elk. In 1981, the disease was identified first in the wild in elk in Colorado, followed shortly by mule deer in 1985 in both Colorado and Wyoming. At that time, an endemic zone for the disease was established in those states. CWD, however, spread to captive herds in Saskatchewan, Canada in the mid-1990s, and to Oklahoma and Nebraska, and wild cervids in Saskatchewan by the year 2000.
It was not until 2001 that CWD was identified in white-tailed deer, in South Dakota wild herds, and in a captive herd in Nebraska. In the following years, CWD spread to Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Utah, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia, North Dakota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas in 2012, and finally Ohio in 2014. In 2015, Michigan confirmed the first case of CWD in wild white-tailed deer. Currently 21 states and 2 Canadian provinces have CWD.
While CWD was first detected in captive mule deer, it has long-since spread to other cervids. Early reports indicated that transmission outside of mule deer was not possible, followed shortly by infection detected in elk. Eventually, infections in white-tailed deer, moose, and black-tailed deer (sub-species of mule deer) were detected. More recently, red deer were determined susceptible to infection in a research facility.
In my state it is against the law to sell deer meat killed by hunters. If you want fresh Venizon you have to hunt it yourself, or beg a friend to give you some.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
