'Mad deer' disease worries state

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The disease, called chronic wasting disease, is similar to mad cow disease. It is infectious and communicable, though experts do not know how, and it is always fatal to deer and elk.

Hunters and the Department of Natural Resources requested the regulation to protect the thriving hunting industry. The regulation prohibits importing some deer or elk parts from a dozen states and two Canadian provinces that have the disease, according to Charles Ruth, deer project coordinator for the state Department of Natural Resources.

"Currently, deer hunting generates more than $200 million annually for South Carolina's economy," he said, "and deer are the most-sought game species in the state."

In 2002, 148,823 people hunted deer in South Carolina, killing 319,902 deer, according to the state. That includes nearly 19,000 people who came from out of state to hunt and the more than 3 percent of state residents who hunted deer last fall.

Unlike mad cow disease, there is no indication chronic wasting disease can be transmitted to people by eating meat from infected animals, Ruth said. The regulation was created now because deer season begins in several Western states in the next few weeks.

The new regulation prevents hunters from importing certain parts of deer and elk carcasses, notably any part connected to the animals' central nervous system, where the disease lives. The penalties for violating the regulation are minor — a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $200 or a maximum of 30 days in jail — but Ruth said the real purpose of the regulation is to promote education and awareness.

"The bottom line is this will inconvenience people who take trips out West every year, and they'd better be sure what they bring back," said Bob Bailey, executive director of the South Carolina Sporting Protection League. "But regardless of the hardship, keeping chronic wasting disease out is worth every effort."

States where the disease has been diagnosed include Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, according to DNR.

A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimated that state's $1 billion hunting industry took a $68 million to $105 million hit because of the disease in 2002.

Even though the disease was concentrated in the southern parts of Wisconsin, there were a number of hunters in the northern part of the state who were hesitant to hunt because of the disease, said John Gilbert, a wildlife biologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Service. The service represents 11 Indian tribes in three states along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.

"If people aren't hunting, there is a huge effect on the economy," he said. "People are not staying in hotels, not eating in restaurants and the state is impacted by lower license sales."

The economic impact was felt from the hotels all the way down to feed stores, after the state of Wisconsin prohibited baiting of deer. However, the university study said much of that money probably was injected into the economy anyway as hunters spent on things other than hunting.

"It's very prudent to try and keep this disease out if you can," Gilbert said. "It's certainly caused a significant drain on state agencies and the economy (in Wisconsin)."

Like mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease strikes the animals' central nervous system and causes extreme weight loss, excessive salivation, odd behavior and poor coordination. There has been no trace of the disease in the Southeast, according to the state and researchers at the University of Georgia, but the biggest problem to wildlife officials is that the disease has an incubation period of up to five years and there is no current test to detect it in live animals.

Bailey and Gilbert said the common denominator for all the states where chronic wasting disease has appeared is they all have large deer hunting farms that import deer from other places. Those deer then spread the disease to wild deer, but Gilbert said scientists don't know for sure how that happens. In cows, the disease is spread by eating feed partially made from cows themselves.

There are about two dozen such operations in South Carolina, though the importation of deer has been highly regulated by the state since the 1990s, Bailey said.

The new rules implemented this month allow hunters traveling to states with confirmed cases of the disease to bring only certain parts back: quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached; meat that has been boned out; hides with no heads attached; skulls with no meat attached; antlers detached from the skull plate; and finished taxidermy heads.

The state has randomly tested deer for the disease since 1988. This fall, DNR will continue surveillance by taking samples from hunter-killed deer.

"Chronic wasting disease represents a very significant threat to North America's deer and elk populations, and it may be the most notable wildlife disease situation the country has ever faced," Ruth said.

Jason Zacher covers the environment and can be reached at 298-4272.