What’s being done to stop chronic wasting disease in North Carolina?
Wildlife experts in North Carolina say there’s no treatment or vaccine to save the deer population from chronic wasting disease.
The disease is always fatal, and it’s been detected in 23 states. Last year, it spread to North Carolina, where it was found in Wilkes, Stokes, Cumberland, Surry, and Yadkin counties.
Channel 9′s Dave Faherty talked to wildlife biologists about efforts to keep the disease from spreading to other areas.
The experts say capturing video of a deer with chronic wasting disease is nearly impossible, but that’s exactly what Justin Brown believes he and his girlfriend may have caught behind his home in Catawba County.
“I’ve never seen nothing like it; I mean, [the deer] was shaking just uncontrollably almost,” Brown told Faherty.
Brown says the deer spent hours in his backyard, dipping its head and walking in circles. But state biologists say the only way to know for sure if a deer is infected with CWD is for it to be tested.
“There is no cure for chronic wasting disease; once the animal becomes infected, it is going to die from that disease,” said James Tomberlin with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
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North Carolina has been testing for CWD for more than 20 years but that testing intensified after cases were detected in southwest Virginia.
The disease has been found in the five counties mentioned above, but state officials also set up surveillance areas in Ashe, Alleghany, Rockingham, Guilford, Forsyth, Davie, Iredell, Alexander, Harnett, Sampson, Bladen, Robeson, and Hoke counties.
State officials are mandating testing during a portion of the hunting season, and they’re preventing hunters from moving deer carcasses across county lines.
“So that’s a big part of our education campaign: don’t give this disease a ride,” said Tomberlin.
Researchers can’t test for CWD while the deer is still alive, though. The deer’s head must be removed, and lymph nodes are taken out to be shipped to a lab. CWD testing drop off stations have been set up across the state.
Meat processors and taxidermists like Michael Brittain are also helping keep watch.
“I think our wildlife [commission] is doing what they can to protect our deer herd,” Brittain told Faherty. “Our best resource is to rely on what wildlife is telling us.”
Jimmy Hess says he’s been hunting all of his life, but he stays clear of the counties where CWD has been detected.
“You don’t want to spread it or nothing because you can’t eat the meat if it gets on down here. You won’t be able to hunt, and hunting is part of the lifestyle around here,” Hess said.
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For Brown’s video from Catawba County, wildlife biologists say the deer could have been infected with another disease, or possibly injured. Brown said he hopes it wasn’t CWD.
“I hate it for the local population because from what I understand, it is kind of infectious, and you don’t want to see a whole herd get wiped out. I like seeing them in the morning,” Brown said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been no reported cases of CWD in humans. As a precaution, the state recommends that people don’t eat meat from a deer that has tested positive for the disease.
(WATCH: Fight between Avery County neighbors over deer ends in deadly shooting)
