ATTENTION TTHA MEMBERS/LANDOWNERS!
The Texas Parks and Wildlife survey recently sent to all MLD permit holders should be carefully read before any action is taken on the questions. Aside from the fact that you are now paying for permits that should be free, there is evidence that “Chronic Wasting Disease”, which has been declared an “insidious deadly disease” in deer, is nothing more than a variant of scrapie, a disease in sheep that has been known for 300 years in the U.S., but not known until 1967 to be susceptible to certain genetic variations of white-tailed and mule deer.
Scrapie could be in the soils of almost any place in Texas and the U.S. At one time, there were 55 million sheep in the U.S., and between 1850 and 1950, Texas was a heavily stocked sheep state. This explains why CWD/scrapie has appeared, without rhyme or reason, in Texas and many central states where sheep once roamed.
Scrapie does not affect deer reproduction, and is not harmful to human health. Not one single deer has been known to have died ANYWHERE directly from CWD/scrapie. Texas deer hunters and their families consume about 15 million pounds of venison each year, and deer herds are thriving and bringing $2 billion to the Texas economy.
State agencies have not accepted new federal research from USDA, Ames, Iowa that shows 1) white-tailed and mule deer are 100% susceptible to scrapie, 2) the molecular profile of PrPSc for scrapie cannot be differentiated from the profile of CWD by standard USDA tests (as used in Texas). In essence, CWD and scrapie are so similar that they appear to be one in the same.
As a Texas landowner, you should be aware that if a positive CWD/scrapie deer is found on your property, or any property for miles around, that you and your family, along with leasers and/or hunters will be affected by the consequences of such a find for years. Above all, the value of your property could decrease drastically, based on Uvalde and Medina counties where positive CWD/scrapie has been found.
It is inconceivable that state agencies continue to “beat a dead horse” by foiling landowners of the opportunity to breed deer as an agricultural enterprise, and harassing landowners and hunters with a bogus program such as CWD surveillance. Landowners and hunters deserve better, and you should contact your State Representatives for relief from agency oppression.
To be blunt about it, state agencies should recognize the new evidence that there never was a CWD—that it was a variant of scrapie all along; that it is not ‘insidious”; that it does not detrimentally affect deer herds, and is not a problem to human health. State agencies should put CWD/scrapie to bed, before they KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS THE GOLDEN EGG!
– Horace Gore, Wildlife Biologist
