Injustice in the Upper Peninsula
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Hello,
My name is Todd Stittleburg of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Several weeks ago, I was selected to be one of 6 people in the United States to be a member of a 6 person panel that will answer questions on CWD. This panel discussion will take place on July 11 in Lafayette, Louisiana as part of the Quality Deer Management 2003 National Convention. Over 1000 biologists and land-owners throughout the nation will be in attendance. Other panel members are Dr. Karl V. Miller, The University of Georgia; Joe Hamilton, The Nature Conservancy; Dr. David Guynn, Clemson University; Clayton Wolf, Texas Parks and Wildlife; and David Moreland, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
My background is in large animal nutrition. Prior to starting my own company, I worked for the largest feed company in the U.S. as a ruminant nutritionist. I have studied deer nutrition and deer diseases for the past 16 years and I am also an avid hunter having hunted throughout the U.S. and Canada.
I am writing this letter to state that I am totally against the DNR's eradication plan and also against their total ban on feeding and baiting of deer.
Eradicating all of the deer in a 400+ square mile area is simply impossible. The DNR has done nothing but antagonize land-owners in the Mt Horeb area. I have attended nearly every meeting the DNR has held on CWD. I remember them telling land-owners that all the deer needed to be killed in the Mt. Horeb and surrounding areas, and if they didn't allow this slaughter, they were considered part of the problem. The DNR's statement was "If your not part of the solution, you are part of the problem." The DNR's bullying tactics will continue to antagonize citizen's private property rights. It concerns me greatly that we lost nearly 100,000 hunters in this state last year that did not buy licenses and in turn did not recreate. This has meant a tremendous loss of revenue for small businesses throughout the state. When you couple this with the loss of small business owners due to the feeding and baiting ban it is atrocious. The DNR's answer is to dig their heels in on the feeding and baiting ban, not allowing for a compromise, increasing the eradication area , and also increasing license fees. All three will decrease hunter participation, decrease deer harvest, put more businesses out of business, and continue to hurt our economy especially those businesses in central and northern Wisconsin and the businesses throughout the state that are related to tourism and hunting.
Last week, the DNR brought in several CWD authorities from throughout the U.S. that all agreed with the activities that the Department is doing to fight CWD. They certainly didn't want to bring in anyone that disagreed with their stance. The fact is that many researchers and scientists disagree with our DNR's position. There are many scientists in Europe and many researchers such as Dr. McBride of Cornell University, Dr. James Jensen of Texas A+M College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Larry Barger of the Univ. of Illinois, and Dr. James Kroll of Stephen F. Austin University that do not necessarily agree with our DNR plans.
There are several other theories on CWD that the DNR chooses to ignore that I would like to discuss:
1. The Copper Theory. The trace mineral copper is absolutely essential in daily protein synthesis. A lack of copper in an animal's diet will allow it to be more susceptible to any of the TSE diseases. This absence of copper in the diet can be a result of low copper soil concentration or as a result of certain other minerals in the environment such as Manganese and/or Cadmium that inhibit an animals ability to utilize copper. Protein prions need copper to remain normal and non-infective!
This theory was first introduced by Mark Purdy in the United Kingdom. After the large outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in England, Purdy started researching where the outbreak came from. He identified a number of things:
a. Soils in the UK are very low in copper - he even took this a step further and was able to show that in Iceland, Slovakia, and Colorado the levels of copper in the soils there was also low which might explain the higher incidence of Scrapie, CJD, and CWD in those areas.
b. Farmers were forced by the English government to pour an organophosphate insecticide on the backs of their cattle to control warble flies. This organophosphate inhibited the animal's ability to utilize copper for normal bodily functions.
It was thought that the practice of feeding rendered animal by-products back to dairy cows caused the Mad Cow Disease in Europe in the 1980's. As a result, the practice of feeding rendered animals back to dairy and beef cattle was outlawed in Europe in 1988. Presumably this would stop Mad Cow Disease, but in 1998 alone there were over 3000 cases of Mad Cow Disease in the UK. Researchers now are agreeing that there is something more to the puzzle and the copper theory continues to gain acceptance.
Dr. Michael McDonnell of Nebraska split 3 groups of elk in a penned situation, putting the groups on 3 different diets.
Group 1 - no copper in the diet.
Group 2 - copper sulfate in the diet at levels less than sufficient.
Group 3 - this group received the recommended daily allowance for copper.
Dr. McDonnell then introduced all 3 groups into a CWD environment - Group 1: had no copper in their diets and had 25-55% of the animals contract CWD.
Group 2: had 5 - 7.5% contract CWD.
Group 3: HAD NO ANIMALS TEST POSITIVE FOR CWD!
"Copper has been shown to stop the development of Abnormal Prions and to unfold Abnormal Prions early in their development" - Dr. Michael McDonnell, Nebraska.
Dr. Thomas Swerczak, University of Kentucky has proved that Cadmium can inhibit an animal's ability to utilize copper.
In the CWD endemic areas of Colorado, Wyoming, and Mt. Horeb, WI Cadmium level in the soils are very high due to the mining that used to go on in these area. Dr. Swerczak has even seen wasting symptoms in beef cattle where high levels of cadmium are in the soil.
Swedish scientists believe a "chronic wasting disease" affecting thousands of moose in southern Sweden is evidently not a TSE, but has been suggested to be a copper deficiency. Analysis of trace elements in livers of diseased moose has shown a 78% lower copper level in the diseased moose vs. the liver copper levels in healthy moose. Research suggests that copper deficiency in moose, leading to a range of behavioral changes, emaciation, neurological lesions, and other symptoms rather like those described in elk and deer of Colorado and Wyoming, is not uncommon. (Flynn et.al., 1977)
The Copper theory continues to gain support of scientists in Europe and the U.S. I would like to see the DNR compromise on the feeding and baiting issue and then take this a step further and take a township or two in the Erad. Zone and offer mineral supplements containing copper to landowners to put out on their land for deer to consume. As testing continues in the next few years, it could become evident that deer in the townships where mineral with copper is offered to the deer may be less susceptible to CWD or it may even totally prevent these deer from coming down with CWD. This would seem to me to be a bit more PROACTIVE on the Department's part.
2. GENETIC THEORY. Scientists have identified a dominant gene in sheep that will not allow the sheep to contract Scrapie - so through selective breeding of rams and ewes, Scrapie can be bred out of the sheep population within a number of years. It appears that elk also have this dominant gene. Dr. O'Rouke at the Univ. of Washington is currently conducting the genetic research on deer to see if they possess a gene that will not allow them to contract CWD.
3. BACTERIA THEORY. Frank Bastain of Tulane Univ. has stated that he believes that a gnat bites a deer and transmits a spiroplasma bacteria into the deer and the bacteria causes certain prions to go awry and in turn starts tearing holes in the brain tissue. Incidentally EHD and Blue Tongue are 2 of the most widespread deer diseases and they are both spread by a blood sucking gnat. Bastain injected spiroplasma bacteria into rodents and found that it induced spongiform encephalopathy in the brains of the rodents, just like we see in CWD infected deer.
On Wed. the 14th, I ask that you vote on CH03-016 and CH03-017. Furthermore, I ask that you vote to allow a limited amount of feeding and baiting of deer.
Sincerely,
Todd Stittleburg
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Black
River Falls, Wi.54615
