Let's not blame it all on those with captive/farmed herds. There's plenty of blame to go around. An outbreak could come from susceptible animals legally imported before the ban, from a carcass brought back by a hunter because the PGC hasn't enacted legislation like some other states requiring the skeleton and brains and potentially infective organs must be left in the state where susceptible animals were shot, or it could even walk across our borders and not much more we can do about that except continue monitoring. Let's share even more of the blame with fellow hunters (shooters if you prefer) who are willing to pay outrageous prices for a huge set of horns, possibly tempting those who supply them to ignore our importation rules.

I can't hardly place any blame on those who act in a legal manner, but if I had to place some blame for leaving us wide open for potentially distributing CWD both far and wide before it was even found, I'd have to point my finger at the PA Dept. of Agriculture for not requiring mandatory testing of all herds that ship animals off site and at a minimum, sick animals at those that dont. I'd have to point to the PGC for not pressing the issue, and both our Gov. and legislature who oversees them both. I think it's them folks we need to be asking WHY DON'T WE TOO HAVE MANDATORY CWD TESTING to provide early detection and minimal spread across our state. Why aren't we willing to pay for that insurance?

And while we're at it, pointing fingers. Don't seem to recall any of our major statewide sportsmen's clubs picking up the mandatory testing banner either.