Meridian, DNR hustle to respond to deer wasting disease

Meridian Township is working closely with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to plan an immediate deer hunt and take other steps to try to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, officials say.

"We have two roles in this whole thing," said township manager Frank Walsh. "We will walk hand-in-hand with the DNR and communicate effectively with daily and weekly updates of what's going on."

A doe found wandering near a Haslett home last month has been confirmed as Michigan's first case the fatal, contagious neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. It is similar to mad cow disease and present in 23 other states and two Canadian provinces.

Walsh said the next step is to determine the parameters of the hunt and the area it will cover. Deer killed in the special hunt will be tested for the disease in an attempt to find out whether the disease is isolated to a single or a few deer or is more widespread.

"There are specified areas that the DNR will have a keen interest in," Walsh said. Some hunting will occur on township property, but he said the township may also have to reach out to individual landowners.

Walsh said residents will be informed of developments as soon as they occur through the township website, social media and traditional media channels.

Some measures already have been taken. They include mandatory testing this fall of deer killed by hunters in Alaideon, Delhi, Lansing, Meridian, Wheatfield and Williamstown townships in Ingham County; Bath and DeWitt townships in Clinton County, and Woodhull Township in Shiawassee County. Deer feeding is banned in Ingham, Clinton and Shiawassee counties, and salvaging deer killed by vehicles also will be prohibited.

The DNR and Michigan State University researchers are working together to estimate the size of the herd in Meridian Township to help determine the number of deer they must test to determine the extent of the disease.

"It is possible that it could be an isolated case and we've removed it from the landscape and it's done," said William Porter, the Boone and Crockett Chair of Wildlife Conservation in the Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. "That's why a pretty significant surveillance effort needs to be undertaken."

He also said it's important to reduce the deer population in the area, at least temporarily, to help keep the disease from spreading.

"That's tragic for the deer and it's unfortunate for all of us who appreciate deer," he said. "But it doesn't have to be forever."

He said deer populations in parts of the state affected several years ago by a virus known as epizootic hemorrhagic disease have begun to rebound.

"If we have to reduce deer populations to control the risk of disease, once we are confident that the disease is not a problem, those populations should recover pretty quickly," he said.

Porter said there are several ways the disease could be transmitted to wild deer, including infection by captive deer transported from elsewhere or by contact with remains of an infected animal brought back from western states by a hunter. There's also a remote possibility that the disease generated spontaneously.

"I'm sure there is going to be a lot of work done to try to figure out how this happened and how it could have been prevented," he said. "We just have to be on our toes, so if it pops up again, we can catch it."

Chronic wasting disease in cervids — deer, elk and moose — is what is known as a prion disease similar to scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease or Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in people. Prion diseases are not well understood. What is known is that they have a long incubation period, cause progressive neurological symptoms and are fatal. Prions are spread through contact with saliva, feces, urine and blood; they also can linger in soil for extended periods of time.

Currently, there is no evidence that the disease can be transmitted from deer to humans. However state health officials recommend wearing gloves while field-dressing a deer and minimizing contact with an animal's brain and spinal fluid.

Although this is Michigan's first case of the disease in a wild deer, one case was found in a privately managed deer facility in Kent County in 2008. There are strict testing protocols in place for the 365 Michigan facilities that privately manage deer, elk or moose, state officials said.