RE: CWD?
 

The reason is this as I used to process venison in a butcher shop:
Bucther shops were nto required to clean all equipment after processing each deer. Before the scare it was easier to take the animal in whole and process it that way because the threat of CWD was so minimal. When the scare came in effect it became more hectic to clean the equipmet after each individual deer. Also again, CWD is a neurological disease that impairs the deers brain to reckonzie that it is starving and then begins to attackother parts of the deers nero system. Before the scare we had no problems cutting through the spine or cutting off the head. Now more places are requiring that only the meat be brought in because its safer, sort of speak and causes alot less hectic processing. CWD is a scare tactic and will not effect the way I hunt nor the way we process our own venison. I have yet to hear anyone dying from eating meat froma CWD deer, elk, bisson, turkey, horse, cow, chipmunk, squirrell, rat, cat, dog, etc...you get the point. Oh and dont post that article of the two people that apparently died from eating an elk with CWDthat they shot out west.Autopsys showed that they died from othercauses.

RE: CWD?
 

The CWD deer that were donated for meat in NY was comsumed by up to 130people at a benefit dinner for Verona Fire Department in NY. NO ONE that was at the dinner has become sick or ill for any reason due to CWD, granted im not saying it's not possible but its highly unlikely someone is going to become sick from something they ate 6 months ago.

Also, Cornell University wants to do a 6yr study on those individuals who consumed the meat.

RE: CWD?
 

Did these people know they were eating deer that tested positive for CDW? I doubt this happened just for the legal implications. Just think you are fed deer that could possibly kill you. Think of the big lawsuits from the exposure alone.Hmmm remind me not to eat deer at a firehouse in NY.

Pertaining to the other post:
"I was wondering where the government was going to find some guinea pigs."

They have already aquired about 100 deer. I have seen them myself. I do not know if these deer have CDW or not, but you would presume that is what these deer will be tested for. The research on CWD has already begun.

RE: CWD?
 

Theres alot that you guys have yet to be told about CWD. The reason it is not supposed to be a threat to humans is very simple...its very species-specific. That means that other thenthe genus cervid and odocoileus(by the way, bison is not on the list) it doesnt seem to transmit. Thats whitetails, mulies, blacktails, elkand moose. Some of you probably never even heard about the positive moose out west this year.

As for the folks in Verona, the doe was donated to the dinner, the head was routinely submitted for testing, and later came up as a positive. Many private organizations asked for permission (and were denied) to make up a test group to see how and if this would affect those who consumed it. It remains to be seen if Cornell does anything with it.

It has been my observation that most processors have switched over to boning deer rather than cross cutting anyway, so thats almost become a moot point.

EHD, or blue tongue, is carried by the black gnat and causes, among other things, the deers lung tubercles to rupture, and the mucous membranes to blister and the tongue to swell to the point of becoming grotesque. Its actually common, and often misdiagnosed by laymen as CWD symptoms.

Its just common sense not to take any chance with any deer that seems sick. Ill always eat venison, but I do take CWD seriously, just not the hype and BS they tack on along with it! The spinal column, brain, and lymph nodes are what they fear, and skinning, boning and being clean is the key, like you guys said.

As for study, theres been test facilities for years, 40 to be exact, in Colorado, and others in Wyoming, Wisconsin and elsewhere. yep, right where some of the biggest outbreaks have occurred (hint). I know of a woman in Georgia who has been hand raising fawns for CWD research out west for a few years now. While West Virginia is reeling from the three positives found there this year, others are asking aloud why the state has been composting the road kills and selling and distributing this compost all over the state. In fact, there are a TON of questions still NOT being asked, such as where every state buries/dumps its deer waste? What about taxidermists? (Yes, I am one) How about meat cutters? Hunters? As a taxidermist I know from what states I can and cannot receive deer on the carcass, instead needing to have it first "processed". I know this because I raise deer. Not because the state has contacted all the taxidermists or meat cutters. Ive been told that bleach will not disinfect CWD. Yet we are being told to use it. I have been told by the state vets that I cannot freeze a CWD test sample, yet other states are doing just that.

Get the picture, fellas?

RE: CWD?
 

Finally someone who is not sticking their head in the ground and hoping everything will just go away.