UW-Madison announced its support Monday for the state Department of Natural Resource plan to rid Wisconsin of chronic wasting disease.
The plan calls for eradication of all deer in the southcentral part of the state, relying on civilian hunters to do the work. In a statement given by UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, he expressed the need to eliminate CWD.
\Failure to do so invites certain spread of the disease and a significant risk of serious, unpredictable economic and ecological consequences for the state,"" he said.
Bob Manwell, public relations official for the DNR, expressed the department's satisfaction with the support.
""We are very happy about the endorsement,"" he said. ""We look forward to working with the University to learn more about the disease.""
Wiley also recommended an independent advisory council be assembled in order to better deal with the disease and the problems it causes.
""Anything that tends to calm the concerns of the public is a good thing,"" said Scott Craven, chair of the wildlife ecology department at UW-Madison. ""If the university-sponsored panel of experts from around the country and world can offer their considered opinion and that helps the matter then that is a good thing.""
Judd Aiken, professor of animal health and biomedical sciences at UW-Madison, said he agrees with the initial plan and is happy of his employer's decision.
""I'm clearly in favor of the eradication. There is no other treatment or cure,"" he said.
The plan to rid parts of southcentral Wisconsin of all white-tailed deer is part of a year long strategy in containing, studying and hopefully expunging the disease from the state.
According to Craven, the DNR has already begun the first phase of their parts.
""[They have] established a zone around places where positive cases were identified last fall, instituted a surveillance program in which 500 deer were killed, and allowed a series of land-owner hunts in June, July, August and September.""
The upcoming deer-kill will allow hunters to use a lot of buckshot.
""For all intents and purposes, there really is no limit on the amount of deer one could shoot if they were so inclined, within the intensive harvest zone,"" Craven said.
It is not known whether CWD can infect other species, but ""experiments on CWD suggest that it doesn't transmit to as many species as mad cow disease does,"" Aiken said.
That is widely considered to be good news for all the venison eaters out there.
