i've read most of the posts regarding this issue. a few taxidermists feel there's nothing to worry about, that exposure to infected tissue cant harm a human! i think the majority are concerned about it since nothing is certain about the affects of cwd on humans. i just hope that those who scoff at this don't turn out to be statistics in the near future. as a part-timer, i don't intend to work on deer or any other hooved animal until more is known about this desease.
i can appreciate the situation the full time taxidermist is put in!
you have to make a living and in most areas, deer heads are the bread and butter.
i hope this all turns out to be alot of media hype about nothing.
be carfull fellas, elmer
Return to Deer Taxidermy Category Menu
I don't agree with your statement that I feel there's "nothing to worry about", but I won't fall prey to the chicken little approach you're showing either. Worry won't get it done and the pseudointellects who keep bringing this subject up have nothing to offer to any solutions. Science WILL prevail as it always has. I don't take any more precautions with deer than I do with other animals that might cause me problems. Raccoons, the canids, armadillo's, cats, and a host of the little varmints carry diseases that have been PROVEN SCIENTIFICALLY to harm unwary taxidermists. You stand as good a chance of getting run over by a truck as you do in developing CWD or any offshoot that might transmutate. More people have died of West Nile virus in the US in the last year than have of anthrax, CJD, or mad cow disease. Have you stopped eating hamburger? You should. You have an excellent chance of getting a e.coli from beef than you'll ever have catching CWD. Then there's Legionaires Disease from water coolers in airconditioning vents, tuberculosis from infected soil, botulism from canned meat or even finding a poison mushroom in your Domino's pizza. At some point, you have to realize that life's a crap shoot and just living can be hazardous to your health. Guaranteed, you're going to die. All you can do is work on the hierachy of probability and eliminate the unnecesary. Mine just differs from yours I guess.
george,
you're statement,"science will prevail as it alway has" shows me that you're not positive about the affects of cwd either and you're waiting for scientific proof!
am i missreading you?
Bunny huggers and Fruit heads, Maybe between the truth lies.
Bunny huggers and Fruit heads, Maybe between the truth lies.
Bunny huggers and Fruit heads, Maybe between the truth lies.
I believe that what SCIENCE is already telling us is true and I'll continue to believe that until SCIENCE proves that to be UNTRUE. I believe CWD is no bigger problem that EHD and it remains a deer exclusive disease. And by the way, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I always glove up when working "fresh" animals and I encourage everyone around me to do the same thing. Surgeons wouldn't think of working without gloves and face protection. I don't wear the face shields, but I sure wear the gloves religiously. Now if you did that, what else CAN you do. Even the chicken littles have agreed that the "hide and horns/antlers" are safe to cross state lines. Aren't the people you're listening to telling YOU the truth?
I dont think there is a threat to us.There never has been a known case of a human contracting CWD.Not from eating the meat or from coming in contact with them in any way.
No human will ever become infected with CWD. Chronic Wasting Disease only infects cervids. For that matter no deer will ever die of Mad Cow Disease. While CWD and BSE (mad cow) are both deadly TSE diseases neither species will die from the other's TSE disease.
Humans also die of TSE diseases (five known to date). The concern is whether or not cervid TSE diseases can cause human TSE diseases as mad cow disease did in the UK with variant CJD.
The continual claim that no human has ever died from CWD has the same meaning as no human has ever flown to the moon. We of course have visited there but only as passengers in a machine capable of flight. So until humans can flap their arms and fly under their own power no human will fly to the moon and no human will die of CWD.
Let me get this straight Bob. "No one will ever get CWD" because only deer get CWD. Mad cow disease kills cows. So far 124 people have died of Mad Cow disease. Mad cow and CWD are related, but different, right? It's almost ridiculous how you can pontificate on one subject and waffle on another. And now I see that the Wisconsin DNR is putting tracking collars on deer in the Mt. Horeb (CWD eradication zone). Now there's a winner. Lets make sure we kill all the deer, but radio collar a few. Hell, why do they need collars if they're going to be hanging in a reefer truck in a few days anyway.
George the repeated phrase 'that no one has ever gotten (subsitute died from) CWD' is a true statement. But it is only a play on words, as you once described yourself to me as a professional writer, you certainly must understand what that means.
Not a single person in the UK has died of mad cow disease, that is because mad cow disease only affects bovine (cattle - cows). As of this July's stats 124 poor souls died of vCJD a deadly human TSE disease linked to BSE (mad cow disease), BUT NOT MAD COW DISEASE.
If you still do not understand it, I will type it out even slower next time.
What I don't get George and maybe you can type it slowly for me, so that I can understand it. Why if you do not understand the concept that only cervids (deer, elk) can become infected with CWD or the alphabet soup involved with all these other deadly TSE diseases, are every one who wants to be careful and employ safeguards 'chicken littles' in your eyes.
Yesterday I went on a 20-mile ATV ride with Governor Scott McCallum, now because I wore a helmet, I am a 'chicken little'? Sorry George but everyone who disagrees with you is not wrong - people who refuse to be forced into your ass. are not the problem - and people who want answers and plan to use safeguards until we know the anwers are not 'chicken littles'
I'll give you this George - you may be a goof, but you are certainly entertaining.
What does that make him?
about the rights of sportsmen.
I am going to e-mail both of you a article I wrote on CWT, another deadly disease you should be worried about.I think you will be be interested in it.
....that freezing kills the rabies, and therefore the head of a biting "suspect" cannot be frozen prior to testing. for the sake of the original question/comment, does anyone know if freezing will kill the cwd prions or whatever they call them bad little critters? if so, perhaps we have little to worry about in a taxidermy specimen that has been frozen. but could still use latex gloves and a pair of specs and still get the job done.