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Post by bswiv on Apr 2, 2024 18:59:55 GMT -5
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Post by ferris1248 on Apr 2, 2024 19:26:54 GMT -5
Pretty interesting.
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Post by treetom on Apr 3, 2024 17:45:40 GMT -5
After learning about prions back when Mad Cow was a thing, that word (prion) sends shivers up my neck.
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Post by richm on Apr 3, 2024 19:49:18 GMT -5
Lyme is curley-ques. Spirettes or dumthing like that.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Apr 3, 2024 23:03:39 GMT -5
Someone around here has shot a deer that was infected. It’s sad.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 4, 2024 8:15:32 GMT -5
I personally think the seriousness is overblown. Its a big deal to midwesterners when they find the B&C buck they’ve been chasing for three years dead of it. But I suspect its always been around. Its noticeable now because whitetail herds have been managed for maximum population numbers. Disease is nature’s way of curing overpopulation.
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madbeach
Member
I started dancin' again
Posts: 118
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Post by madbeach on Apr 4, 2024 11:21:15 GMT -5
Could bringing in deer from other states for high fence areas cause issues?
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 4, 2024 12:08:37 GMT -5
Could bringing in deer from other states for high fence areas cause issues? It does. The prions are extremely contagious and prevalent. They can live in dirt for years. So if you bring in say, an infected doe, and she lives with it for a couple of seasons behind a high fence, she’ll shed the prions all over the enclosure and they’ll infect other deer brought into pen for many years. However, like many of the diseases that affect my chickens, resistance is genetic. Should CWD tear through the entire deer herd of North America, a percentage of the herd will be naturally immune. Deer won’t be made extinct by it. Just cut way down in numbers. As they repopulate, immunity will carry on for several generations. Life has been designed to find a way. Consider that much of the nation’s deer herd has been genetically managed by man to produce abnormally large-racked bucks. There may be a link between genetic susceptibility to CWD and trophy buck management. Things like that happen when traits are selected for by man that go above and beyond mere survival of the fittest. Its not wrong to artificially select for desired traits. But it will often lead to unintended consequences. Again, I did that to my chickens in my quest to make a reptilian looking bird and although the project is still ongoing, my genetic tampering slipped in a predisposition towards a virally-induced cancer that I’m having to root out through aggressive eugenics. CWD is probably the natural correction to man’s tampering. |
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madbeach
Member
I started dancin' again
Posts: 118
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Post by madbeach on Apr 4, 2024 14:59:57 GMT -5
Thanks Bullfrog. Life will find a way, as Dr. Malcolm would say.
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Post by bswiv on Apr 5, 2024 6:08:04 GMT -5
Could bringing in deer from other states for high fence areas cause issues? It does. The prions are extremely contagious and prevalent. They can live in dirt for years. So if you bring in say, an infected doe, and she lives with it for a couple of seasons behind a high fence, she’ll shed the prions all over the enclosure and they’ll infect other deer brought into pen for many years. However, like many of the diseases that affect my chickens, resistance is genetic. Should CWD tear through the entire deer herd of North America, a percentage of the herd will be naturally immune. Deer won’t be made extinct by it. Just cut way down in numbers. As they repopulate, immunity will carry on for several generations. Life has been designed to find a way. Consider that much of the nation’s deer herd has been genetically managed by man to produce abnormally large-racked bucks. There may be a link between genetic susceptibility to CWD and trophy buck management. Things like that happen when traits are selected for by man that go above and beyond mere survival of the fittest. Its not wrong to artificially select for desired traits. But it will often lead to unintended consequences. Again, I did that to my chickens in my quest to make a reptilian looking bird and although the project is still ongoing, my genetic tampering slipped in a predisposition towards a virally-induced cancer that I’m having to root out through aggressive eugenics. CWD is probably the natural correction to man’s tampering. One of the concerns with CWD is what effect it will have on the culture of hunting, a effect not to be ignored. Convince hunters that they have to worry about eating deer and invariably there will be fewer deer hunters. Which can slowly but surely erode further support for hunting in general. Is it natural? Probably. Will nature evolve a work around? Probably. Should we pay attention and be concerned? Yes. |
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