Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018 - 22

in captive deer, free-ranging deer, or both.
Heading into the archery deer season,
Pennsylvania had three active Disease
Management Areas, in which special
rules that serve to reduce the risk of
CWD spreading throughout the state are
enforced.
Within DMAs, it's unlawful to feed
deer, or possess urine-based deer attractants while in the field. And, importantly,
it's unlawful to transport deer parts with
the highest risk of transmitting CWD out
of a DMA, or out of another state where
CWD has been detected.
While the bans on feeding deer and
using attractants serve to keep deer from
congregating at one place where they'd
be more likely to encounter and spread
disease, the ban on exporting high-risk
parts from DMAs and other states with
CWD serves to protect those places in
Pennsylvania where CWD hasn't been
detected.
Once CWD becomes established in an
area, it's nearly impossible to eradicate.
And unlike diseases that are easy to identify and quick to cause damage, CWD

HIGH-RISK DEER PARTS
High-risk deer parts are those
where the CWD prion concentrates.
They are: the head (including brain,
tonsils, eyes, and lymph nodes); spinal
cord/backbone; spleen; skull plate
with attached antlers, if visible brain or
spinal cord material is present; cape, if
visible brain or spinal cord material is
present; upper canine teeth, if root
structure or other soft material is present; any object or article containing
visible brain or spinal cord material;
and brain-tanned hide. High-risk parts
may not be exported from a DMA or
any state with CWD. Deer meat and
antlers attached to a cleaned skull plate
may be transported.

has a long incubation period, taking up
to two years, on average, for an animal to
display symptoms.
That makes CWD difficult to diagnose.
By the time symptoms appear, CWD
already is established.
Additionally, the prions that cause
CWD are difficult to destroy.
Prions are hearty proteins that are not
easily denatured by temperature. Studies
have found prions withstand temperatures reaching 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit
and remain infectious after freezing and
thawing, as well.
CWD-infected animals shed prions
through bodily fluids, such as saliva,
urine or feces, and once prions are in the
environment, they can remain infectious
for several years.
At this time, it's not known how many
prions are required to infect an animal,
so the only way to ensure CWD won't
spread to a new area is to keep it out of
that area entirely.

THE FUTURE OF CWD
So what's it all mean for deer?
Due to CWD's incredible longevity
and slow-moving nature, its impacts on
the deer population often aren't immediately clear.
While the overall prevalence of CWD
across the United States is low, the prevalence in the nation's infected areas has
been reported as high as 40 percent.
Recent studies from the University
of Wyoming report a 10 percent decline
in white-tailed deer populations in areas
with high CWD prevalence. And CWDinfected deer were 45 times more likely to
die annually than uninfected deer.
Now think about the possibility of
CWD spreading throughout our state, and
the deer-population declines that could
result over time.
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018

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