Originally Posted by
Champlain Islander
From what I have been reading there was federal money allocated to deal with the disease on a national level but that has since not been renewed. It is amazing to me that there is such a difference on how different states deal with it and like you said piecemeal is unlikely to be successful. What is clear is that the disease is spreading rapidly and will be a big issue for states like mine in the future. When I read the article Jake posted it struck me that there is a question in my mind about whether the authors based it on science or is an anti tool.
I got the same vibe like the article was written by a greenie or an animal rights advocate. Save the Deer by questioning the wholesomeness of the meat.
At the upper management level, everybody is political and/or has an agenda. In Germany a program to deal with Wild Boar overpopulation has pretty much been paralyzed by conflicting politics and agendas. On the one side, the farmers are getting hammered by wild Hog damage, the hog farmers are really afraid of the spread of Swine Flu. The back to nature types and the Greenies are trying to protect the Hogs. The hunters wouldn't much mind promoting more Hog hunting and encouraging the prices to fall for hunts. For the politicians, it is just a bargaining chip in a bigger game. For the farmers, it is a growing threat to their bottom-line. Nothing much productive seems to be happening.
IMO it is unlikely anything constructive or productive is going to happen until it turns into a crisis. One thing is for sure, better testing methods and availability is needed post haste. The removal of lymph nodes by the inexperienced is unlikely to be productive and may just spread the disease.
This just a sample,
https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildli...arvested-deer/