DEM EXPANDS EMERGENCY REGULATIONS TO KEEP CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE OUT OF THE STATE

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RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462

For Release:	December 24, 2002
Contact:	Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402 Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM EXPANDS EMERGENCY REGULATIONS TO KEEP CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE OUT OF THE STATE

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has filed emergency regulations expanding the state's ban on the importation of cervids - namely deer and elk - and their parts from the state and the release into the wild of any captive or wild cervid. The action has been taken in an effort to prevent the introduction of Chronic Wasting Disease into the state.

The public should note that the expanded regulations prohibit feeding and baiting of white-tailed deer. Baiting deer has always been illegal but feeding has been included in the new regulations because it is highly associated with disease transmission. Several exceptions are allowed, including raised bird feeders within 100 feet of a dwelling, brush piles and bona fide agricultural practices.

The expanded regulations also stipulate that those who hunt out of state must remove all nervous tissue - brain and spinal cord - from deer and elk meat before bringing it back to Rhode Island, making into law a precaution hunters have been following since the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. Although the method of transmission is not fully understood, disease experts believe Chronic Wasting Disease is passed through direct animal-to-animal contact and possibly by indirect contact with the highly resistant CWD prion found in nerve tissue. Prions have not been found in muscle tissue.

Chronic Wasting Disease is a progressive neurological disease that is always fatal to deer and elk. It has been found in wild deer and elk in limited areas of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas, New Mexico, and Illinois. It has also been identified in farmed elk in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Kansas.

DEM has joined much of the country in conducting a systematic Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance program, and has asked hunters to assist by donating heads of deer harvested in Rhode Island. Many samples were collected during deer hunting seasons this fall. Hunters may still participate in this program by contacting Lori Gibson, DEM supervising wildlife biologist, at 789-0281 and by delivering specimens to the Great Swamp Management Area Field Headquarters on Great Neck Road in West Kingston. Specimens of particular interest are symptomatic deer or those harvested near deer farms.

In addition to hunter-harvested deer, auto kills are being sampled. This collaborative effort is being supported by funding from the federal government, including the US Department of Agriculture and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Although there is currently no evidence that Chronic Wasting Disease is naturally transmissible to humans or to animals other than deer and elk, DEM continues to recommend that hunters follow simple precautions when dressing and preparing venison:

Wear rubber gloves when dressing carcasses;

Bone out meat from the animal;

Minimize the handling of brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, and lymph nodes (and avoid consuming these tissues);

Wash hands and instruments thoroughly after field dressing is completed.

For more information, visit the DEM website at www.dem.ri.gov and click on "Publications" to view a brochure on Chronic Wasting Disease, or visit the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance website at www.cwd-info.org.

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