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DEC accepting public comment on changes to protect New York deer, moose from chronic wasting disease

Posted 8/14/19

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos said that DEC is proposing several regulatory changes to further protect New York's wild deer and moose from chronic …

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DEC accepting public comment on changes to protect New York deer, moose from chronic wasting disease

Posted

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos said that DEC is proposing several regulatory changes to further protect New York's wild deer and moose from chronic wasting disease (CWD).

"CWD poses a real and substantial threat to deer, elk, and moose populations across North America, and we take that risk seriously in New York," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "Currently, there is no evidence of CWD in New York, and we want to keep it that way. With these proposed changes, DEC is reducing the potential that hunters or owners of captive deer may inadvertently bring this disease into New York."

CWD is a fatal and untreatable nervous-system disease affects deer, elk, and moose and is believed to be caused by abnormally shaped proteins called prions. CWD prions are shed through saliva, urine, and feces of infected animals. A healthy deer, elk, or moose can pick up the disease by direct contact with the infected animal's body fluids or by eating contaminated sources of food or water.

DEC and the Department of Agriculture and Markets (DAM) recently finalized the New York State Interagency Chronic Wasting Disease Risk Minimization Plan, which includes recommendations to strengthen protection of New York's wild white-tailed deer and moose populations, as well as captive cervids (deer and elk) held at enclosed breeding and shooting facilities.

Proposed changes include:

• expanding the prohibition on the importation of carcasses and carcass parts of CWD-susceptible animals to include all jurisdictions outside of New York;

• clarifying that the only parts of CWD-susceptible animals that may be imported into New York are deboned meat, cleaned skullcap, antlers with no flesh adhering, raw or processed cape or hide, cleaned teeth or lower jaw, and finished taxidermy products;

• modifying the list of species referenced in the regulations to only include known CWD-susceptible species;

• increasing the ease with which DEC's Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) can enforce DAM regulations to ensure owners of captive-bred, CWD-susceptible animals comply with DAM's captive cervid health requirements;

• clarifying disposal requirements for taxidermists that process CWD-susceptible animals; and

• removing text associated with feeding wild deer and moose, as that prohibition is being established in a separate rulemaking.

Public comments will be accepted through Oct. 6. For detailed explanations of these proposals and instructions on submitting comments, visit www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/34113.html.