TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS
Is Your Meat Safe?
by Carolee Anita Boyles, © Progressive Farmer, September 2003, reprinted with permission
Hunter concerns about the safety of game infected with CWD and West Nile virus are overblown.
Unless you’ve been living under a
rock for the past year, you’ve already
seen several headlines about chronic
wasting disease and West Nile virus.
Reports have appeared in publications
ranging from The New York Times to
all the big hunting magazines, and
everyone has an opinion about the
effects of these diseases.
Fill Out Survey on Deer
Hunting Season
by George F. Siniscal, Natural Resources Committee Chairman
As many of you well know (espe
cially those of you who hunt), the deer
populations in Western Oregon are
diminishing. This is primarily because
of what wildlife biologists refer to as
“hair loss syndrome” and “chronic
wasting disease.”
I’m asking all tribal members
(whether you hunt or not) to assist me
with a survey on whether or not you
feel the deer hunting season should be
closed in the Stott Mountain units for
at least one year, beginning in 2004.
This closure would affect non-tribal
hunters as well as tribal people.
I’m compiling this information in
order to forward it to the Oregon De
partment of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
in an attempt to help save our blacktail
deer from extinction. By answering this
survey, we hopefully can help ODFW
determine whether or not it should close
deer hunting in those two units.
Please choose one of the following:
returning the survey either to me or to
Frank Simmons by Oct. 10, 2003.
Thank you for your time and
interest. Please return the survey to
George F. Siniscal, 2043 Siletz River
Highway, Lincoln City, OR 97367 or
Frank Simmons, Natural Resources
Dept., CTSI, P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR
97380-0549.
Here’s the latest about CWD and WN V
and how they affect the game meat we eat:
Chronic Wasting Disease. Dr.
Gary Wolfe, project director for the
CWD Alliance, believes the risk from
eating meat from CWD-infected
animals is minimal.
“Chronic wasting disease has been
known to exist in the wild in northern
Colorado and southern Wyoming for at
least 25 years, and probably longer than
that,” he says. “We don’t know for sure
if CWD can be transmitted to humans,
so it’s appropriate to take some
common-sense precautions. But there’s
been an overreaction about the potential
health risk associated with it.”
Wolfe says he and his wife have
been hunting elk in the heart of this “hot
zone” for the past 15 years.
Plum Creek 2003 Hunting Map tt
.... T...... r... -,----- '""nFTSS.. T----- 1----- 1----- 1---- I
•
•
KERNV LLE
zt. i .ix
Gorge Road Open i.
LOGSDEN
SILETZ
Close antlerless deer hunting in
the Stott Mountain and Alsea units
for at least one year, but not to
3.
NEWPORT
in the Stott Mountain and Alsea
EDDYVILLE JE
TOLEDO
Leave deer hunting in the Stott
Disabled Hunt Area
Mountain and Alsea units the way
Junior and Disabled Hunt Area
it is.
EH
The choices above will include
archery hunting as well as rifle hunting.
Please check one of the choices and
8
□ •
Siletz
News
• •
9 • ♦ •
t •
□
October 2003
li
•
a
Closed Areas
Highway 20
One hct> »1 WOO Feet
’«ICC
20000
30000
............. —
.L
Roads Open in Travel Management Area
units by at least two weeks.
4.
Avoid obviously sick animals; shoot
only those that appear healthy.
Wear rubber gloves when you field
dress any big game.
Bone out all meat to minimize the
possibility of spreading any infected
material into the meat from brain,
spinal cord, lymph glands, or spleen.
Cook meat as usual.
Learn as much as you can about CWD,
find out if it’s been detected where
you hunt, and make an informed
decision. For more information
about CWD, visit the CWD Alliance
Web site at www.cwd-info.org .
- Weekends OnlylC
at least one year, but not to exceed
two years.
exceed three years.
Shorten the deer hunting season
•
k ;
" . .... -.......
Stott Mountain and Alsea units for
2.
•
•
Close all deer hunting in the
1.
“It’s an area we enjoy hunting, and I’m
not going to let the fear of CWD keep
me from doing that,” he says. “When it
comes to hunting and eating wild game,
the potential risk of contracting a
neurological disease as a result of CWD
isn’t even on my top 10 list of concerns.
I’m more concerned about driving from
Montana to Colorado, getting injured
when I’m packing into the area, or
being involved in a hunting accident.”
Wolfe says if you handle meat from a
CWD-infected animal appropriately, the
risk of even coming into contact with in
fected material is minimal. He offers the fol
lowing recommendations for hunters:
i
-Ji J
Plum Creek TMA Lands
West Nile Virus. If you’re
concerned about this disease affecting
game birds, National Turkey Federation
biologist Tom Hughes says, “According
to the Centers for Disease Control, wild
birds that appear healthy have a very
low likelihood of carrying the virus.
“The prevailing wisdom is that there’s
no way you can catch it from eating a
bird that’s been exposed to the virus, but
everybody is trying to err on the side of
caution,” he continues. “So don’t handle
sick or dead birds if you don’t have to,
and that would include eating them.”
Hughes says West Nile virus appears
to be transmitted strictly by mosquitoes,
and turkeys seem to be resistant to the
disease. “They don’t act as a reservoir
and are nearly immune to it,” he says.
“In a study where researchers tried to
infect turkey poults, they all acquired
the virus to a minor degree. None of
Continued on next page