Roadkill deer: feast or affliction?

Humanity has wiped out half the world's wildlife population just since 1970. South Dakota ranks 6th in car/deer collisions.

Sturgis Police Department made a deal with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks last year to alleviate the deer population in the city. From tearing up the brush and gardens of residents' homes, to seeing an increase in deer vs car accidents throughout the city, police started the deer harvest program. [KOTA teevee]

But wait. Mule deer with chronic wasting disease have been discovered not only in Meade County but in eight other counties in the chemical toilet.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal brain disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by an abnormal protein called a prion. Animals in the later stages of infection with CWD may show progressive loss of weight and body condition, behavioral changes, excessive salivation, loss of muscle control and eventual death. Chronic wasting disease is always fatal for the afflicted animal. CWD poses serious problems for wildlife managers, and the implications of long-term management for free-ranging deer and elk is unknown. [also KOTA teevee]

It takes at least 1,000 degrees to kill those prions to prevent spreading them to humans. White-tailed deer throughout the Black Hills are also known to be infected with epizootic hemorrhagic disease.

Unfortunately, resources directed at studying CWD have seen no increase despite the disease’s continued spread. Congress has been lobbied for funding but has yet to direct any money to further research, or even to help states pay for their costs related to monitoring. [Brett French, Lee Newspapers of Montana]

Bighorn sheep have joined deer as obstacles to avoid on South Dakota roadways so to bolster deer and bighorn populations in the Black Hills SDGF&P has boosted the number of cougars to be killed during the 2019-2020 hunting season despite residents' protestations.

Yes, kill off apex predators like wolves and cougars; spray neonicotinoids, glyphosate and atrazine on everything then wonder why deer and other cervids contract a contagion like CWD.

Image courtesy of the Missoulian.