I have a family member that did much of the original studies on CWD as a pathologist for a large university. We spent a few hours discussing this "new" scary disease.many years ago. The truth of the matter is that it has been on the earth as long as you believe the earth is old. It is absolutely a political and $ issue. They happened to have the new tech at the time to find it and and decided that they would use it to their advantage. It is always about control, power and cash. This family member was asked to sign forms that were misleading and some complete fabrications to keep this game going. He refused and it led to him finally retiring, because of the depth of bureaucracy involved.

Same.

Isn't CWD just like mad cow disease?

What is the financial benefit of government pushing CWD?

Similar but not the same. Caused by different prions. Very similar in that there is no test for either. Both are diagnosed by symptoms. No known treatment or vaccine for either. Both are 100% fatal. Both can be passed from animal to animal or contracted from the environment. Once the prions are present in the environment they are there to stay.
In captive herds of penned deer with an infected deer among them, that are all fed at shared feeding stations, studies indicate they eventually all contract CWD and die. That much is undisputed. The controversy revolves around whether or not to euthanize entire herds in the same facility with infected deer. The protocol to transport pen raised deer has also received a lot of scrutiny. Where CWD originated is irrelevant to the discussion at this point. As it stands a breeder that unknowingly transports an infected animal into their facility stands to lose their entire herd. The potential of that financial hit has deer breeders riled up.
I am not a deer breeder. I do have friends that are. I am not going to kick the hornets nest and weigh in either way. Hopefully some stakeholders with more data than I have will flesh out the details about the running controversy.

Back to the actual topic of the thread, I doubt they will get a permanent injunction against TP&W.

Overstep by TPWD, hopefully the court will rein them in.

I worry about CWD about as much as I worry about my right nut picking a fight with the left nut...

that's to say, it's a big nothing burger.

If you can test for it, why is there a need to euthanize an entire herd?

The test is post mortem. A live animal test is being worked on in the lab. No live animal test has been approved to my knowledge. The last study I read stated 81% accuracy on testing live animals. That study was from 2021. If that has changed hopefully someone will bring me up to speed.

In goats, I think the disease is called Scabies, if not mistaken.

Correct. Scabies, Mad Cow, and CWD are all very similar but are caused by different prions.

its scrapies and thats incorrect.

Chronic Wasting Disease and Old World Scrapie’s, both have the molecular profile of PrPSc. Western blot has shown CWD is indistinguishable from scrapie. Scientists at USDA, Ames have revealed that CWD is nothing but scrapie in cervids. Now that we know its the same, it is possible that cervids have been susceptible to PrPSc since Biblical days, when sheep were the dominant animal for wool and food in the world of that day.

if it takes longer for CWD to manifest and for deer to succumb to it then natural expected life I think we will be fine.

Scabies is mange in humans, and is caused by mites. Scabies, rabies, scrapie, someone needs to write a song.

there has been live testing for over 5 years now. TPWD doent view it as accurate enough when compared to post mortem test. Its allowed to a degree until you have a positive test then whole herd gets killed.

there are two distinct jurisdictions on WT deer in Texas; TPWD and TAHC. Guess who calls all the shots? the politically appointed or the experts in animal health?

Get rascal Flatts to sing it

I'd say the politically appointed.

Wouldn’t a judge doing such set a precedent that a person can own whitetails?

Thank you for the additional information Bobo. I figured some of y’all would be along with useful information. My understanding is testing has been going on but nothing as of yet is FDA approved. As you mentioned the accuracy of the live tests is the sticking point. I understand it is being worked on in the lab. Hopefully that gets ironed out so animals that test clean can be isolated and saved when CWD is confirmed inside a high fence. People lay out real money in high end whitetail breeding. Some of the breeder bucks may be the highest value livestock in Texas. Euthanizing a whole penned herd is a serious financial hit.

Live testing is a hot topic. They allow it, until a hot then they want EVERY thing killed then tested. why cant you three year live test quarantine, instead of whole herd destruction? Sounds pretty pointed. I find the Kerr WMA false positive very interesting. I have a weird feeling that wasnt a false positive, more of we don't want to eat crow and destroy any entire “closed” WMA herd

I don't have a dog in the HF or breeder fight but I have not been impressed with the last few years of TPWD appointees, Lots of counter interests voting.

I have a feeling CWD been around alot longer then we think. With that said, its been documebted long enough to know say its mot a population level destroyer, unlike winter storms and drought, even then those populations still bounce back.

I think migration paths are a bigger issue out west. CWD in Texas is a minute point.

I could be totally wrong but I think it has been around in a limited range area for longer than there have been deer seasons and perhaps than the USA has existed. found some evidence if that in some of what Flounder posted. If it can be spread through Deer poop like that reported and last for years in it and the ground could our shipping of Alfalfa hay around the country grown have led to the spread across the nation?

First cases of CWD in a few states are where heavy supplemental feeding has occurred.

Another breeder in Kimble county has a positive test according to TP&W. Just in case you missed it.

Lonestar Outdoor Show: CWD

This week Cable talks to two breeders and I thought it was pretty interesting.

I listened to the whole thing, pretty interesting. Thanks
Who benefits pushing CWD so much, who benefits from killing so many non tested deer?

The short answer to that question is..... there are a few highly connected individuals that are either directly tied to TPWD or have influence with TPWD. These individuals hate deer breeding, and have weaponized CWD to help them crush the industry (quite successfully).