If you’ve read enough of my blog posts over the years, you’ll know where I stand when it comes to the hysteria over chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and how that relates to deer hunting’s future. Today’s post is not going to be long and detailed. It is quite simply a question that I’m posting to all of the state wildlife researchers out there: Why aren’t there more photos of deer with CWD?
I do have some history with this topic. Back in 2002, we were the first media outlet to thoroughly cover the CWD scare after it was found for the first time east of the Mississippi. We published two entire magazines (aptly named CWD Update … and then CWD Update II). Both of those magazines spanned 84 pages each, and they contained (what was at the time) all of the cutting-edge information available on the disease.
Photos of Deer with CWD
While assembling the articles and photography for those aforementioned magazines, we gained permission to publish a couple of photographs of deer infected with CWD.
This was one of them:
The image is no doubt striking. The white-tailed doe is obviously “sick” and seemingly is in the last throes of battling its illness. This deer was confirmed to have CWD. But the catch is: This photo was taken in November 2000. That is correct: Nineteen years ago!
Do your own Google search, and you will also find this image:
Another stark visual, isn’t it? But, once again, this image was taken nearly two decades ago. We are told the deer did indeed have CWD and died from it.
More Photos of Deer with CWD?
My point here is not to cast doubt on whether or not CWD is real. It most certainly is real and has been a scientific mystery since it was discovered in a research pen at Colorado State University in 1967.
Aside from my original question — why aren’t there more photos of deer with CWD? — why, despite the MILLIONS of dollars we taxpayers have funneled to state, federal and private agencies — do we only have access to a small handful (can two be considered a handful?) of legitimate photos of deer with CWD?
I’ve asked myself this question for years. Today, like I’ve done probably a dozen times in the past, I Googled that phrase once again. These same two images popped up rather quickly, along with scads of other images that were incorrectly labeled as “deer with CWD.” Among those other photos (which accompanied articles on CWD, by the way), deer were actually suffering from a host of other maladies, including hydrocysts, cutaneous fibromas, goiters, papilloma virus, and epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD). Heck, one CWD article in a prominent publication actually showed a photo of a deer in spring that was undergoing the annual molting process.
We are all full aware that CWD is typically asymptomatic until its final phases. I 100% get that. What I don’t get is that despite 50 years of research and numerous positive-tested animals, shockingly few researchers have bothered to snap a photo of an infected deer.
Again, no conspiracies being cast here. It’s just a simple question.