Chronic Wasting Disease

Deer hunter Rick Nolan describes how he harvested a deer even with a broken finger, and his arm in a cast up to his elbow.

"Trying to load that thing in the back of a Polaris Ranger with this arm and a cast by myself created quite an afternoon of fun,” says Nolan.

Nolan has been hunting since he was a kid and has passed on those skills to some of his grandkids, as well.

After all these years hunting deer, it didn't surprise him that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was discovered in Oklahoma deer recently.

"I wasn't surprised. I mean, it's all around, it's been around for 50-something years, and Texas has quite a few counties that have CWD,” says Nolan.

Nolan is right according to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

"We're the 30th state to have found it in our wild herds. So, there's a lot we can learn from the states around us,” says Micah Holmes, Spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Holmes is in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the yearly Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Meeting. He says this is the first time CWD was detected in wild deer here in the state but it was previously detected in other species.

"Well, Chronic Wasting Disease has been found in captive elk herds a couple of different times in the state and had never before the summer been found, in a wild herd. Chronic Wasting Disease can be found in deer and elk. Then about a month ago, it was first discovered in a case in Texas County,” says Holmes.

That first detection of CWD in a wild deer was near Guymon with the second case found in Woodward County just a couple of weeks ago.

"So, in both those cases, those that were reported to us by the public have said this, deer are not looking right. They're not acting normally; not fleeing when the tractor drives by. So, you know, we appreciate folks being our eyes and ears out there,” says Holmes.

By the time someone sees those symptoms of CWD it means the deer is in the late stages of the disease.

"You actually can only see symptoms in the late stage of that particular disease. And so, it's called Chronic Wasting Disease for a reason. So, in the late or the end stage of the disease, the animal is gonna have muscle loss and gonna be very, very thin. They have difficulty swallowing. So, one of the classic hallmark signs that you see is drooling,” says Dr. Alicia Gorczycas Southerland, Assistant State Veterinarian, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

CWD impacts a deer's brain when it is infected.

"Chronic Wasting Disease is, what we call a transmissible sponge for encephalopathy or a TSE. And so basically what it is, is a misfolded protein that creates holes in the brain and leads to the death of that particular animal. It only affects certain species of cervids, so, our whitetail deer, our mule deer, moose, and elk are the ones that are gonna be the most affected by CWD,” says Dr. Gorczycas Southerland.

Much like Mad Cow Disease.

"It is similar. So, Mad Cow Disease or bovine sponge for encephalopathy, BSE is in the same family as Chronic Wasting Disease, but it only affects bovine, whereas CWD only affects cervids,” says Dr. Gorczycas Southerland.

While officials are keeping an eye on things, Rick Nolan isn't worried about CWD right now.

"It's just not that alarming right now. I know the Wildlife Department's taking care of it there, there's been a lot of research put into it. So, it's just not that big of a deal right now. Now you know what that ultimately looks like, who knows, but it's just not that concerning to me,” says Nolan.

"We've got a plan that we've had for a number of years, a Chronic Wasting Disease strategy. So, when it does come, we're not surprised that it's here right now. We're not surprised that it's coming. Cause we've been preparing for this for a while,” says Holmes.

Holmes agrees with Nolan that there is no need to panic and adds that the Wildlife Department is keeping an eye on the approximately 750-thousand wild white-tailed deer in Oklahoma.

"We're taking a very measured, pretty conservative approach to, you know, this is not a time to panic or anything like that. We're just working through the steps in our plan to, you know, it's not something that we can prevent, but, we hope we can mitigate the spread and slow down the spread,” says Holmes.

Holmes adds for those who want to know more about CWD that they have resources.

"We have a Chronic Wasting Disease page on our website. You can go there and learn more about it and if you don't know what it is, you can find all the basics,” says Holmes.

If a deer or other cervid catches CWD, it's over for the animal.

"It is always fatal and currently there is no vaccine and there is no treatment for the disease itself,” says Dr. Gorczycas Southerland.

The assistant state veterinarian says luckily Chronic Wasting Disease has yet to transmit to humans.

"There has been no known species crossover into humans. I know there's a lot of research out there and there's a lot of great information on the CDC website about it, but today it's not been documented,” says Dr. Gorczycas Southerland.

For those deer hunters who want to be cautious before making some deer chili the Wildlife Conservation Department is there to help.

"If folks want their deer tested, you know, we may be able to do that because we want to stay on top of this and to see how far it is spreading, how fast and what the prevalence rate is,” says Holmes.

Unless he hears something different from the Department of Wildlife Conservation, rest assured Rick Nolan will be in a deer blind later this year.