> So far, it has not been unclear where the deer
> chronic wasting disease comes from.
"not been unclear"?
Anyway, I sort of recall that they think it jumped from
some other species (sheep?) in a poorly managed pen
situation at CSU in Fort Collins CO. And the deer
spread it with their nose-touching habit.
First confirmed KS CWD deer was reported toes-up here
this week.
Next door in Missouri deer hunters harvest approximately 300,000 each year.
I recently read where a community that did not allow any type of deer needed to reduce the number of deer. The cost, $340 per deer if removed by "sharpshooters". The community leaders tabled the idea for a lack of money.
$340 X 300,000 = 102 million dollars ( $102,000,000 ) if applied to the 2004 deer harvest in Missouri.
This $102,000,000.00 is for only one year, Missouri tax payers look out!
The disease is spreading among deer, from the western states to Wisconsin, all the way over to some confirmed cases in West Virginia (last I heard). And now Kansas has some confirmed cases.
A lot of freepers want to make jokes about this. And it is a BIG stretch to go from this affecting wildlife to humans.
I'd still rather eat a wild animal, not exposed to the hormones and other crap they put in the meat one buys at the grocery store.
But I will watch this story closely. I think TB was supposed to be extinct at one time, and the past few years it has made a comeback.