Washington nearing decision on chronic wasting disease rules

Wildlife officials are getting closer to making a final decision on permanent rules for limiting the spread of chronic wasting disease in Washington, including proposed statewide bans on feeding wildlife and using bait to hunt deer, elk and moose.

Hundreds of people across the state have weighed in on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s plans for stemming the spread of the always-fatal disease, and the agency held a public hearing on the rules on Tuesday.

Most proposals have drawn little to no controversy, such as the expansion of carcass transport restrictions and mandatory testing for hunter-killed and salvaged elk, deer and moose.

But the agency’s proposals to ban feeding those animals and using bait to hunt them have people riled up.

On the agency’s public comment website, opponents have blasted the proposals en masse, claiming that banning bait amounts to an attack on hunters.

Supporters argue banning the practice is long overdue, and they back WDFW’s argument that bait stations and backyard feeding create artificial concentrations of wildlife that could exacerbate the spread of CWD.

At the sparsely attended virtual hearing on Tuesday, all three public commenters backed the bans.

John Andrews, a lifelong hunter, said prohibiting the baiting and feeding of wildlife is far from an attack on hunting – instead, it’s a move that will help protect Washington’s deer, elk and moose.

“This is a small sacrifice to keep our populations healthy,” Andrews said.

The public comment period for the rules ends Friday. WDFW director Kelly Susewind is expected to issue a final decision later this month.

The decision will set the foundation for a long-term battle with CWD, which WDFW detected for the first time in July. The disease has been found in 36 states.

CWD attacks the nervous system of infected animals, eventually causing them to become emaciated and show erratic behavior. It’s caused by prions, which are misfolded proteins, and it spreads easily. The prions are shed in bodily fluids and can persist in the environment for long periods of time.

There’s no known risk to humans, though health officials advise against eating meat from CWD infected animals. There are major risks for populations of elk, deer, moose and caribou, however, especially if the disease were to be left unchecked.

Melia DeVivo, a WDFW research biologist, said during Tuesday’s hearing that CWD is the “most important disease threatening North American cervids,” and that because it’s caused by prions, animals don’t have an immune response to the condition.

She said studies show that when the disease becomes endemic, the impact on wildlife populations “can be insidious and severe.”

Washington’s first case was discovered in a white-tailed deer from the Fairwood area of north Spokane. Shortly thereafter, mandatory testing was ordered for all salvaged and hunter-killed deer in three game management units surrounding the detection.

The testing effort helped turn up three more positives in that area. Voluntary testing increased, too, and helped the agency detect a case in Pend Oreille County.

Mandatory testing was one of a handful of temporary rules put in place after the initial detection.

Others included prohibitions on transporting carcasses or any animal parts aside from deboned meat and finished taxidermy out of WDFW’s eastern region and localized bans on baiting and feeding deer, elk and moose.

Those rules were set to expire, so WDFW has proposed the permanent regulations.

They build off the emergency rules. Under the proposal, the transport restriction would become permanent and a testing requirement that was in place for three hunting units last fall would expand to cover the entire 10-county eastern region.

The rules are also written to apply to any WDFW region that has a case of CWD – meaning if a new case turned up in other parts of the state, the rules would be applied there.

Some public commenters online have bristled against the testing requirement, raising concerns that it’s challenging to enforce and that it’s sometimes hard for someone who kills or salvages a deer to get test samples submitted.

But the vast majority of the digital ire has been focused on the rules banning baiting and feeding statewide.

The bait ban targets hunters who use grain or another food source to draw deer or elk to within shooting range. It includes a related rule that would prohibit scent products derived from urine or glandular fluids.

Prohibiting feeding targets people who put out food so they can watch wildlife in their backyard, or for other reasons.

The bans are meant to reduce the chances of animals gathering in large groups, where one infected deer could spread the disease to many others all at once.

They’re also meant to be proactive. Because it’s easy for the disease to spread naturally and with the inadvertent help of humans, it’s possible CWD is present in other parts of the state.

Kyle Garrison, WDFW’s ungulate section manager, said statewide bans on baiting and feeding could help limit outbreaks the agency hasn’t found yet.

“Mitigating high risk transmission practices like baiting reduces infection and transmission where the disease is present but undetected,” Garrison said. “That’s why we’re proposing this as a statewide ban.”

Smaller-scale bans were in place this fall in the three hunting units around the state’s first case of the disease. Staci Lehman, a WDFW spokesperson, said the agency issued a few warnings related to the bans but didn’t cite anyone for violating them this fall.

Using bait for deer and elk hunting is illegal in many other states. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, for example, do not allow the use of bait for hunting deer or elk.

It’s clear, however, the practice is deeply important to many Washington hunters.

Opponents have argued that eliminating the use of bait would harm hunter success, especially among hunters with disabilities and in areas where hunting might pose safety risks.

Some have doubts that a nominal amount of bait attracts enough deer to speed the disease spread.

Others wrote that deer and elk are herd animals, and will hang out in large groups regardless of the presence of bait or feed.

Some also called for WDFW to end its own wildlife feeding operations, which would be exempt from the ban.

Supporters of the bans say the science is clear that cutting down on artificial concentrations of animals would help slow the spread of CWD and give the state a better chance at fighting the disease.

Rocky Ross, a hunter from Pasco, spoke at the hearing on Tuesday. He said that it would be impossible to fix every situation that encourages unnatural gatherings of animals, such as backyard apple trees or farmers growing hay.

He also said WDFW should fix its own feeding program.

But he said prohibiting wildlife feeding and hunting big game over bait is the right move.

“The science is clear, and no one can really argue that fact,” Ross said.