Quote:
Originally Posted by thumper
If CWD was as bad as we’ve been led to believe, there would be no deer east of Highway 22 by now, and the deer west of 22 would be in free-fall. We’re told that there’s no cure, the life expectancy from contracting the disease is only 2 years, and it’s present throughout the environment - unavoidable.
So how come we aren’t seeing emaciated deer falling over in our fields? How come we’re still seeing lots of deer in the eastern parts of the province - even along the major river valleys which we’re told are the biggest entry corridors? (Granted not as many as 10 years ago - but could that be the result of a combination of factors - more hunters, culls and dramatic increases in tags ?) How come we’re still seeing mature mulie bucks - shouldn’t they ALL be dead from CWD?
Here in Canmore, we were inundated with feral rabbits for decades. Even with expensive ‘control’ efforts (costing on average $265 per rabbit ‘removed’), we had thousands of them 2 years ago. Then a rabbit virus swept through town, and we’ve had ZERO rabbits for the past year. If CWD is all it’s touted to be, then why haven’t we seen the same result with deer?
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In the zones where it first started in Saskatchewan there has been a huge decline in the mule deer population. It takes a while but it does get there. One study that was started with collared deer could not be completed as they all died of the disease. There are no survivors with this. If the animal gets it, it is a death sentence.