chronic wasting disease in Elk, in Canada

[haypoint]

This post is for informational purposes only. NAIS is not mentioned. The article is complete and gives credit to its source and web site is attached

Source: Winnipeg Free Press
<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/3838936p-4441931c.html>;


"A game ranch about 30 kilometres from Swan River is under quarantine
by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, after elk in a Saskatchewan
ranch tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

"There's been no confirmed case (in Manitoba)," said Wayne Lees,
chief veterinary officer for the province, on Wednesday [10 Jan 2007].

Lees could not comment on the exact location of the Manitoban game
ranch under quarantine.

The neurological disease is transmissible among deer and elk, and can
cause small lesions in brains of infected animals. For infected
creatures, the disease can lead to loss of bodily functions, abnormal
behavior and death.

"As part of any of these normal investigations, (inspectors) follow
animals that travel in and out of the (elk) herd, and that's where
the Manitoba connection comes in," said Lees. "The investigation
might take a number of weeks."

Lees said if any animals are found to have moved from the
Saskatchewan ranch where animals tested positive for CWD, officials
must conduct a 'trace-out' to ascertain the health of animals which
may have come in contact with them.

Chronic wasting disease can be slow to develop, said Lees, and can
take years for animals to show signs of illness.

"Animals that have been bought or sold from [the Saskatchewan]
farm...(inspectors) determine the identity of those animals, and
what's happened since," said Lees. "These investigations have to go
back a number of years...and that's the reason these tracebacks can
take some time. Several years of animal movements have to be checked out.""

[DaleK]

Why WOULD NAIS be mentioned in a Canadian story? Canada's way ahead of NAIS. Permits have been required for moving elk from one farm to another since 1990 so they can trace them out pretty easily.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

they have had cronic wasting in elk in canada for 20 years. they just never made that big of a deal of it.

colorodo has had it for 40 years

but niether place made a big deal out of it

then niether of them have deer 50 - 70 per square mile like in wisconsin either

[Swampthing]

December 17, 2006


Tennessee Elk Hunt Won't Happen Before 2008
Dept. of Agriculture OK's additional elk for Royal Blue WMA
by Richard Simms
posted December 13, 2006

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission is plowing ahead with plans to issue five permits for a special elk hunt in Tennessee.

However that hunt will probably not happen in 2007 as some had hoped.

The Wildlife Management Committee of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission voted Wednesday to delay consideration of a hunt until 2008. The full Commission could change today's action Thusday, however that is doubtful.

Greg Wathen, chief of TWRA's wildlife division, said they need the extra time to create procedures and pass legislation needed to collect fees to support the state's elk management program.

Wathen wants to charge a $10 non-refundable elk permit appliclation fee. However right now state law forbids TWRA from charging any additional fees to Annual Sportsman License holders. Wathen wants to change that law so those license holders would also have to pay that non-refundable $10 fee.

Other states that have similar drawing for elk permits have as many as 30,000 to 40,000 applicants. At $10 per application, that can generate lots of money for the elk program.

"There is a timing issue to get that legislation passed before the hunt," Wathen said.

Mike Butler with the Tennessee Wildlife Federation said, "the decision to delay to 2008 was the right decision. Biologically we could have done it in '07. But delaying will help in the long run."

Legislative action is also required to allow TWRA to assign one of the five permits to be issue to a conservation organization. Most likely that permit would be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the organization.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has already provided about a half-million dollars to Tennessee's elk restoration project. Wathen said the Shikar Safari Club has also provided significant financial assistance.

Butler added that, "The Tennessee Wildlife Federation is working in close cooperation with the Shikar Safari Club to bring in more financial assistance. The federation has extended well over $100,000 of in-kind of assistance for the elk program. We'll continue that level of support and increase it as possible."

In other major news TWRA Information Officer Dan Hicks says Tennessee Dept. of Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens has signed a waiver that will once again allow the importation of elk into Tennessee.

Elk restoration efforts were slowed dramatically by national concerns about chronic wasting disease. After intense research, biologists have verified that CWD is not a concern at this time. Givens signature on a waiver means that TWRA biologists are once again negotiating to import additional elk from the Elk Island Park in Canada.

Hicks said, "a couple of months ago there was a chance of us getting 300 additional elk. Because of delays getting the waiver that number may have dropped. But it's a possibility that we'll get an additional 100 to 200 elk to release this year."

He says biologists would most likely make the trip to Canada to get those animals in late January or February.

"I’m very encouraged to hear that there’s a strong possibility of adding more animals to our elk herd in the next several months," Gary Kimsey, Chairman of the TWRC Wildlife Committee commented. "The TWRA staff has worked hard to manage our existing herd. The goal of this commission is to proceed as quickly as prudently possible to implement an elk hunt in Tennessee, no later than the 2008 hunting season and public support for elk hunting in Tennessee has been high."

He says that TVA's Land Between the Lakes wildlife area in West Tennessee also has 23 surplus elk.

Since their reintroduction in 2000, wild elk have prospered in the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area on the Cumberland Plateau.

The last documented elk harvest in Tennessee was in 1865 in Obion County in northwest Tennessee.

[Swampthing]

URL: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/...294673,00.html
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service photo

Majestic animals like this one will soon be added to the state's elk population, if the TWRA can get them from Canada to Tennessee.

Transporting elk from Canada to Tennessee poses logistical nightmare

By Bryan Brasher

January 21, 2007

DYERSBURG, Tenn. -- On the surface, it seems like such a simple issue.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency wants to release more elk within state borders to increase its free-roaming population.

They know where to buy the elk. They have the money to pay for them. They have all the necessary permits.

But with so many hurdles cleared, the process has reached a gigantic stumbling block -- one tough question that has yet to be answered by the smartest TWRA has to offer:

How the heck to do you move 160 live, full-grown animals, with an average weight of 600 pounds, from Canada to Tennessee?

Anyone got any ideas? Anyone at all?

"Transportation is definitely the biggest issue we have," said Gary Myers, executive director of TWRA. "We're talking about a long trip with a bunch of very large animals. It will be interesting."

Myers and Bob Nichols, the regional manager for TWRA Region 4, gave a brief presentation that outlined the agency's elk plans at Wednesday's meeting of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission in Dyersburg.

The starting point for the journey will be Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada. It's more than 2,000 miles from the tentative release sites in eastern Tennessee, and the trip will require TWRA officials to cross the U.S.-Canadian border and clear customs with an unusual cargo.

According to Myers, those issues have been dealt with -- but now there's that pesky question of how to make the trip.

During the early stages of the planning process, TWRA actually approached the Tennessee Air National Guard about flying the elk in from Canada. But to accommodate 96,000 pounds of elk, it would take a C5 Hercules carrier plane, and they're all committed to higher-priority missions around the globe.

With that mission grounded, TWRA has redirected its thoughts toward a land assault. They're investigating the idea of using giant commercial haulers that will carry about 12 elk apiece.

The haulers will have to be thoroughly inspected by officials from Elk Island National Park to make sure they are spacious enough, safe enough and have enough ground clearance to carry the elk for the 24- to 36-hour journey.

Commercial drivers will be paid to captain the mission, and TWRA officials will ride along to tend to the elk. The animals will have to be fed and watered, and their compartments will have to be cleaned periodically throughout the journey.

"It's not as simple as just loading these animals into trucks and driving them here," said Nichols said. "Every facet of the trucks has to be approved before we can set the final plans."

Once they settle on a method of transportation, agency officials must determine a route for the journey -- and that will be tricky as well.

The large commercial haulers will be limited when it comes to navigating dirt or gravel roads and hard turns known as "switchbacks." A route that includes such obstacles could require shuffling the elk from the large trucks into smaller vehicles.

"That would just mean more stress on the animals," Nichols said.

TWRA brass must also clear the journey with the conservation departments of every state they plan to travel through with the elk.

Because elk are known carriers of a devastating ailment known as chronic wasting disease (CWD), state conservation agencies around the country are nervous about the importation plans. One state, Kentucky, has refused to allow TWRA to transport elk across its borders.

"Kentucky just said no, and we're going to respect their wishes," Myers said, adding that Tennessee has taken every legal precaution to protect against spreading CWD. "We're going to have to go around Kentucky, through Missouri and into the Dyersburg area to get them to the release sites."

Kentucky officials defended their decision.

"We have a state law that prohibits people from bringing live cervids into our state," said Mark Marraccini of the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources. "Right now, we have no cases of CWD in our state -- and we have some natural borders between us and states where they do have hot cases. That means the best way for CWD to find its way into Kentucky is on the back of a truck, and we just can't take that risk."

When the planning process began, there was some hope for a planned public release that would give people the opportunity to view the elk and take photographs. But that plan has now been placed in the "biting off more than we can chew" category.

TWRA officials will just be happy to move the elk successfully.

"We don't know how long this trip is going to take or when we might arrive at the release points," Myers said. "If we get there at 3 a.m., we'll release the elk at daylight. If we get there at 1 p.m., we'll release them immediately.

"It would be nice to have a public release, but the most important thing is to get them here and into the wild, safe and sound."