By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer
First published: Friday, April 1, 2005
ALBANY -- A white-tailed deer on an Oneida County farm tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first such case in the East for an illness that has threatened deer and elk in the Midwest and West.
The fact that chronic wasting disease was found in New York could damage the state's venison farming and deer-hunting industries, but state officials said Thursday there was no cause for panic.
The disease was discovered last week in a 6-year-old, white-tailed doe during a state program that randomly tests both wild and farm-raised deer. It was confirmed Wednesday at a federal testing facility in Ames, Iowa.
The animal showed no signs of the illness before it was slaughtered in early March, said Bruce Ache, a state Department of Agriculture and Markets veterinarian.
Chronic wasting disease, a neurological ailment, is part of the same family of illnesses as mad cow disease. There is no evidence, however that people can become ill by eating meat from an animal infected with chronic wasting disease.
"We want to alert people that venison in the state of New York has no potential for harm," said state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello.
State wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said the Oneida County case is cause for a stepped-up testing and eradication effort, but deer are in little danger.
"Even in the places where it's been established, it has not decimated populations by a long shot," Stone said.
Officials would not identify the farm where the deer lived, saying only that the owner had 18 deer, which he sometimes sold as breeding stock. They will be killed and tested. In addition, officials will look closely at six other deer farms that bought deer from the Oneida County farmer. Animals at those farms may also be slaughtered. Farmers are compensated when their deer are killed.
First published: Friday, April 1, 2005
ALBANY -- A white-tailed deer on an Oneida County farm tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the first such case in the East for an illness that has threatened deer and elk in the Midwest and West.
The fact that chronic wasting disease was found in New York could damage the state's venison farming and deer-hunting industries, but state officials said Thursday there was no cause for panic.
The disease was discovered last week in a 6-year-old, white-tailed doe during a state program that randomly tests both wild and farm-raised deer. It was confirmed Wednesday at a federal testing facility in Ames, Iowa.
The animal showed no signs of the illness before it was slaughtered in early March, said Bruce Ache, a state Department of Agriculture and Markets veterinarian.
Chronic wasting disease, a neurological ailment, is part of the same family of illnesses as mad cow disease. There is no evidence, however that people can become ill by eating meat from an animal infected with chronic wasting disease.
"We want to alert people that venison in the state of New York has no potential for harm," said state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello.
State wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said the Oneida County case is cause for a stepped-up testing and eradication effort, but deer are in little danger.
"Even in the places where it's been established, it has not decimated populations by a long shot," Stone said.
Officials would not identify the farm where the deer lived, saying only that the owner had 18 deer, which he sometimes sold as breeding stock. They will be killed and tested. In addition, officials will look closely at six other deer farms that bought deer from the Oneida County farmer. Animals at those farms may also be slaughtered. Farmers are compensated when their deer are killed.
