Category: CWD Management

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CWD Management in Illinois: Improving Turnaround Time

By Nelda A. Rivera, Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, William M. Brown.

“Some advantages of including the ELISA test are that ELISA uses fresh tissue, eliminating exposure to Formaldehyde for those taking and processing the samples. Furthermore, fresh samples can be shipped frozen and stored in less expensive containers (e.g., Whirl-Pak bags). Thus, they require less storage space and, therefore, reduce shipping costs. In addition, ELISA typically has a 4-day turnaround for results depending on the capacity of the diagnostic laboratory.”

During FY 2021, most of the samples received were processed within the first two weeks after the kill date. Therefore, there was a higher percentage of all the samples with completed test results by weeks 10 to 12 (Figure 3; Table 2).

CHAMPAIGN, IL – During the fiscal year 2021, the IDNR surveillance management program—in partnership with Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory—, improved the turnaround time of results of CWD by using a combination of ELISA test (for large-scale hunter harvest surveillance) and Immunohistochemistry (for “special permit surveillance” from IDNR and “suspect deer surveillance”).

 

Read the whole story at the Outdoor Illinois Wildlife Journal, here.

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Chronic Wasting Disease Introduction, Management and Adaptable Processes of Dynamic Disease | By Nohra Mateus-Pinilla

“Participation by landowners and hunters in Illinois’ CWD management efforts demonstrates their commitment to protect the health of the deer herd and the public’s natural resource.”

Photo by Michael R. Jeffords

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Illinois sustains a nationally recognized CWD management program based on collaborative efforts between citizens and wildlife professionals. This integrated approach facilitates adaptable processes to control CWD while benefiting the hunting community and citizens of Illinois. The commitment to management and control of CWD should be sustained in order to allow scientific knowledge to advance and continue to develop additional strategies to manage this disease.”

Read the whole story at the Outdoor Illinois Wildlife Journal, here.

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Environmental Almanac: Supplemental feeding of deer a bad idea | By Rob Kanter

“If you struggle with the perception that, as a state, we too seldom get things right in Illinois, let me call your attention to the success we’ve had in managing a life-and-death wildlife issue that’s causing far more trouble in neighboring states, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).”

BILL MARCHEL • SPECIAL TO THE STAR TRIBUNE

” I’d like to be able to end this column right here, as a feel-good story, but unfortunately, I can’t. That’s because the Illinois Legislature is currently considering a bill (SB2493) that would undermine IDNR’s success managing CWD by creating conditions that would promote the transmission of diseases among wild deer.”

Read the whole story at The News-Gazette, here.

More news about deer feeding (Star Tribune) here.

 

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Chronic wasting disease in Illinois: resources and disease dynamics | By Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, Michelle L. Green and Jan Novakofski.

Deer with Chronic Wasting Disease. Photograph by Wisconsin DNR and CWD Alliance.

 

CHAMPAIGN, IL – We know that CWD is a lethal wasting disease. Death follows a period of weight loss and a debilitating progressive set of clinical signs that include an inability to swallow, excessive salivation, tremors, and increased drinking, urination, and weakness. Protecting the deer herd from this disease has economical value to the State of Illinois, recreational value to deer hunters, and a health value for CWD-susceptible animals.

Read the whole story at the Illinois Natural History Survey blog.

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Targeted culling of deer controls disease with little effect on hunting | By Diana Yates

A new study found that the targeted culling of deer prevents the rampant spread of chronic wasting disease to healthy deer. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.
A new study found that the targeted culling of deer prevents the rampant spread of chronic wasting disease to healthy deer. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer.

CHAMPAIGN, IL. – Chronic wasting disease, the deer-equivalent of mad cow disease, has crept across the U.S. landscape from west to east. It appeared first in captive mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s. By 1981, it had escaped to the wild. It reached the Midwest by 2002. Little is known about its potential to infect humans.

Read the whole story by the University of Illinois News Bureau here.