what are the symptoms to look for? and what species are prevalent to having CWD?? I really want to do more research on this the ODFW has attributted this to herd decreases but how do you tell with pacific blacktail ???
When I referred to putting down sick animals, I mean any animal that has obvious symptoms of being "sick". The big problem with CWD is that by the time the animal is showing symptoms, the disease has been with the deer for probably more than 2 years. A sick animal can pass the disease onto other animals in the wild, creating epidemics---happened with turkeys and blackhead disease in multiple states years ago...
For research, you can just type CWD into a Google search. Go to Wisconsin's DNR site, they did have some good links. Go to the USF&G site, the USDA site, and there was a CWD panel formed about 2 years ago---it operates out of one of the western states, Colorado I believe...
As for the deer infected, I know it has been found in Elk, Mule Deer and Whitetails. I do not recall ever reading anything about Blacktails being infected. Contact your state DNR directly, they will know and should be able to point you in a direction for more info.
And as previously stated, there is no conclusive link that shows positive evidence that eating CWD contaminated meat will give a human vCJD. However---do you want to take that chance---I don't!! Just stay away from the nervous tissue and the bone marrow, follow normal sanitary precautions and
most of us will be fine. For CWD infected areas, follow what your state DNR mandates...