BIRMINGHAM, Alabama —
A disease that kills deer could be a problem for shooters and people who like to eat deer meat. A new study in medicine shows that there may be transmission between species. Chronic wasting disease in deer is very infectious and always ends in death. Now, a new study says that the deaths of two hunters in Wyoming may be the first signs that it has changed and can now affect people who eat contaminated meat.
CWD has only been found in a few Alabama deer, but it worries a lot of deer shooters in the area. It was just found in the northwest area of the state not long ago. A new study that suggests eating CWD-tainted meat could give people a disease that kills them is getting a lot of attention. But deer hunters in the area don’t seem to be worried about that.
Joe Phillips works at Marks Outdoor Sports in Hoover and loves hunting deer. “Most of the time, I don’t think customers care,” he says. And you just hope it’s up there by itself and under control.”
But hunters in this area are afraid about the deer population and what might happen if the state finds more cases of CWD. To try to stop the disease from spreading to other states, officials have put vulnerable herds in quarantine and killed them all. Phillips says, “That’s not what we want to see. I think that once that starts happening, the number of hunters will probably go down.” Of course, this could make people not want to go deer shooting for a while until it is fixed. That’s not what we want.
More than 500,000 people in Alabama were given shooting licenses in 2021. Phillips says that the sport is important to the economy of the state and that anything that hurts that is bad for the state. He says, “I never want to think about a fall without deer season. That might be like not having college football in the fall, and that probably wouldn’t be good for the economy.”
Two deaths were linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, according to the people who did that study. They agree that more study is needed to prove a link to CWD for sure.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama —
A disease that kills deer could be a problem for shooters and people who like to eat deer meat. A new study in medicine shows that there may be transmission between species. Chronic wasting disease in deer is very infectious and always ends in death. Now, a new study says that the deaths of two hunters in Wyoming may be the first signs that it has changed and can now affect people who eat contaminated meat.
CWD has only been found in a few Alabama deer, but it worries a lot of deer shooters in the area. It was just found in the northwest area of the state not long ago. A new study that suggests eating CWD-tainted meat could give people a disease that kills them is getting a lot of attention. But deer hunters in the area don’t seem to be worried about that.
Joe Phillips works at Marks Outdoor Sports in Hoover and loves hunting deer. “Most of the time, I don’t think customers care,” he says. And you just hope it’s up there by itself and under control.”
But hunters in this area are afraid about the deer population and what might happen if the state finds more cases of CWD. To try to stop the disease from spreading to other states, officials have put vulnerable herds in quarantine and killed them all. Phillips says, “That’s not what we want to see. I think that once that starts happening, the number of hunters will probably go down.” Of course, this could make people not want to go deer shooting for a while until it is fixed. That’s not what we want.
More than 500,000 people in Alabama were given shooting licenses in 2021. Phillips says that the sport is important to the economy of the state and that anything that hurts that is bad for the state. He says, “I never want to think about a fall without deer season. That might be like not having college football in the fall, and that probably wouldn’t be good for the economy.”
Two deaths were linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, according to the people who did that study. They agree that more study is needed to prove a link to CWD for sure.
