To prevent deer disease's spread, wildlife panel studies rehabilitation ban

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will consider banning deer rehabilitation operations in Arkansas as a means of containing chronic wasting disease in north-central Arkansas and preventing it from moving to other areas of the state.

The commission's seven members will vote on a proposed ban at 10 a.m. today in Little Rock, commission spokesman Keith Stephens said. Commissioners could vote to cease the rehabilitation of deer statewide or modify a plan and limit areas of the ban, Stephens said.

Chronic wasting disease is a neurological disorder found mostly in deer and is 100 percent fatal. It is carried by malformed proteins, called prions, and spreads by animal-to-animal contact or indirectly through soil and other surfaces. Even years later, healthy animals that graze on contaminated ground can sicken and die.

The direct and most immediate impact of the disease in Arkansas will register on the state's estimated 1 million deer, 600 elk and 308,000 licensed hunters, all part of a $1 billion-plus state hunting economy.

Since February, 90 deer have tested positive for the disease in Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton and Pope counties. The commission also found four elk with the disease in Newton County.

The disease was first discovered in Colorado in 1967; Arkansas is the 24th state affected by the disease.

The proposed rehabilitation ban would help keep the disease from spreading to other counties by preventing the transport of infected deer to areas where chronic wasting disease has been not found, Stephens said.

Of the five counties where deer have tested positive for the disease, only Pope County has a deer rehabilitation facility.

"If you take an infected deer out of the county to a facility and then release it in that county, you now have an infected deer there," Stephens said. "We want to contain this to northern Arkansas."

Once a facility is exposed to the disease, deer can become infected for years after, Stephens said.

"You can't burn it. You can't bleach it," Stephens said. "We've been working on finding the boundaries of the disease, but it could pop up anywhere."

The Game and Fish Commission's website lists 51 animal rehabilitators in the state, and 39 of those rehabilitate deer. The proposal concerns some rehabilitators who say banning deer rehabilitation won't stop the spread of the disease.

"They need to zone in on those areas where the disease is found, not the entire state," said Amy Griffin, who is rehabilitating four deer at her facility in Lockesburg in Sevier County.

Griffin's rehabilitation center is the only one between Mena and El Dorado. She lives near the Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge, which provides habitat to scores of deer.

"I'm the only one in this area who does deer rehabilitation," Griffin said. "All the people call me whenever they find a deer.

"What am I supposed to do next time someone calls me? Ignore it?"

Diana Evants, a deer rehabilitator in Russellville, said she treated 14 deer last year and four so far this year. She said she believes if the commission bans deer rehabilitation facilities, unlicensed people will still take care of deer.

"It's hard to put a little animal down if you see it," she said. "I think people will still take care of them even if there is a ban."

Stephens said there is no sure way to tell if a deer has chronic wasting disease other than testing the animal after death. Symptoms include drooling, lessened fear around humans and sagging posture when walking, but those symptoms also could be indicative of other diseases, he said.

"There are not rehab centers in every county," Stephens said. "That's where we run into the avenues that this can be spread. We want to contain the disease."

State Desk on 06/24/2016

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