Thirty deer to be shot in Franklin County for CWD testing

(Fayetteville) — The Pennsylvania Game Commission is planning to harvest 30 deer this winter and check them for a fatal disease.

The wild deer will be shot in Guilford Township near a hunting preserve where deer recently tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

“It is a sampling effort to see if CWD is in the wild herd,” said Bert Einodshofer, Wildlife Conservation Officer Supervisor for the south-central region of the Game Commission. “It has nothing to do with control of the deer population or control of CWD.”

Tissue taken from white-tailed deer that hunters killed in the vicinity during Pennsylvania’s hunting seasons have tested negative for CWD so far, according to Einodshofer. Testing of the deer taken by hunters won’t be completed until February. Labs have been backed up.

“It’s not enough of a sample to get a good feeling that CWD has not made it into the wild herd,” he said.

Four deer on the nearby hunting preserve have tested positive for CWD, according to Will Nichols, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

Earlier this month the agriculture department had reported just three positives on the deer preserve.

“To our knowledge no deer have escaped from that farm,” Nichols said.

Wayne Laroche, the commission’s special assistant for CWD response, has visited the area, Einodshofer said. His team, using thermal imaging, has spotted a “large volume of deer” at night.

Wildlife control specialists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are planning to bait the deer to concentrate them in one location, then shoot them at night when deer are more active, according to Einodshofer.

“It will only take place where permission has been received the landowner,” Einodshofer said. “State lands could be involved.”

The deer are likely to come from one or two families, he said. Biologists have a better chance of detecting CWD by taking deer that live together rather than relying on the hunters’ harvest of random deer over a wide area.

He said there is no “clinically reliable” test for detecting CWD in samples taken from live deer. The method is also impractical for sampling a family herd in Pennsylvania’s topography.

The commission’s action mirrors its response on March 22 and 25 in Fulton County. USDA expert shooters used silenced rifles and night vision goggles to shoot 30 deer. One positive sample from the harvest gave researchers confidence that CWD was present in 10 percent of the deer population. The deer were shot near a deer farm where a captive deer had tested positive for CWD.

Both Franklin and Fulton counties are part of Disease Management Area 2, which covers more than 2,400 square miles in eight counties of southcentral Pennsylvania. Hunters cannot take brain or spinal tissue from deer shot in a DMA.

The USDA wildlife control specialists are expected in Franklin County before March, according to Einodshofer. They first must first finish their work in DMA 3, located in northcentral Pennsylvania adjacent to the elk range. Three deer taken in DMA 3 during the state’s 2017-18 hunting seasons were positive for CWD.

“At this point we don’t know of any wild deer in the elk range that have CWD,” Einodshofer said.

Laroche has said that the key to controlling CWD will be to “surgically remove” pockets of infected deer rather than drastically decreasing deer numbers.

The Game Commission plans to hold an informal meeting about CWD management after results are in from the hunting seasons and the 30 deer that will be taken in Guilford Township. 

CWD attacks the brain of infected deer, elk and moose and an infected animal eventually dies. Animals can get the disease through direct contact with saliva, feces and urine from an infected animal. Symptoms include weight loss, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urination, and abnormal behavior like stumbling, trembling and depression. There is no known treatment or vaccine.

CWD-causing protein, known as a prion, remains infectious in soil for several years.

There is no strong evidence that humans or livestock can contract CWD, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Game Commission does not recommend eating meat from a deer testing positive for CWD.

Pennsylvania has 25 deer farms under quarantine

Pennsylvania has quarantined 25 deer farms for chronic wasting disease.

Seven no longer have animals, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

The state agriculture department is charged with regulating 980 breeding farms, hobby farms and shooting preserves that host more than 23,000 captive deer.

Quarantined deer farms in southcentral Pennsylvania include:

• Anthony E Grove, 13815 Hollowell Church Road, Waynesboro, Franklin County.
• Robert Koontz, Whitetail Refuge LLC Preserve, 470 Perry Road, Fayetteville, Franklin County.
• Richard Huff, III, Conewago Valley Whitetails, 1335 The Spangler Road, New Oxford, Adams County.
• Ronald Rutters, (no animals) 1491 New Chester Road, New Oxford, Adams County.
• Kevin Ferguson, Brush Valley Whitetails 2887 Brush Valley Road, Glen Rock, York County.
• Chris King, Kings Whitetails, 245 Orchard Road, Spring Glen, Dauphin County.
• Elam Lapp Jr., 183 Spain Road, Herndon, Dauphin County.
• Richard Huff, III, Keystone Valley Ranch 7166 Spring Road, Shermans Dale, Perry County.
• Harry Strawser, Mountain Run Ranch LLC, 714 McKeehan Road, New Bloomfield, Perry County.
• George Hazard, Red Cedar Whitetails (no animals) 113 Whitetail Drive, Mifflintown, Juniata County.
• Van Daley, Aughwick Creek Whitetails 445 Croghan Pike, Burnt Cabins, Fulton County.
• Jeffrey Huston, Pine Tree Trophy Whitetails and Preserve 379 Pine Tree Farm Lane, Harrisonville, Fulton County. 
• Wayne Jones, Dry Run Whitetails, 22849 Decorum Road, Neelyton, Huntingdon County.
• Jeremy Cessna 605 White Pine Road, Osterburg, Bedford County.
• Josh Levy, Hidden Hollow Deer Farm, (no animals) 140 Clark Road, Clearville, Bedford County

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Chambersburg Public Opinion.