CWD Detected - Proceed with Caution? Or throw it to the wind?

Hoosker Doo

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Sorry, this will be kind of long. I commented on a post about CWD in the whitetail forum, but I want to get this out to the general population and see if anyone has some actual experience, studies, or first-hand experience on the subject to better educate myself and make a good decision moving forward.

My wife shot a whitetail buck in a mandatory testing area in Wyoming 10 days ago. I took the meat and horns home and dropped off the head off at a check station for testing.

4 days later I processed the deer and put it in my freezer ( of course eating the heart, tender loins, and sampling the burger in the process). I'm not extremely concerned about it. I tend to drink out of springs without filtering, eat without washing my hands, dangerous stuff, but I try not to be a complete idiot either.

Anyways, I checked the results today and CWD was detected in the lymph node samples. My dad says throw it away and my brother says it's probably not the first or last CWD deer we've eaten and not to sweat it.

Here's what WY game and fish have to say: To date, there have been no cases of CWD in humans and no direct proof that humans can get CWD. However, animal studies suggest CWD poses a risk to some types of non-human primates, like monkeys, that eat meat from CWD-infected animals. These experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to humans and suggest that it is important to prevent exposures to CWD. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend that CWD positive animals not be consumed.

We were counting on the meat, though it wouldn't be the end of the world if we have to trash it. The use of "recommend" and nothing stronger makes me think it's not a very high risk, but is any risk too much of a risk?

Educate me please
 

grfox92

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Some people are very cavalier about CWD.

While I understand no one has ever contracted CWD, biologists are also confident that it's a newer disease probably emerging in the 70s in Colorado. That means that before the 70s ungulates have never contracted CWD either.

I've eaten meat that wasn't tested from areas that have CWD. I'm not worried about it.

I have a rule in my house though. I don't feed my kids anything that hasent been tested. I test all my animals and will not be eating the meat if it comes back positive.

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IdahoBeav

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People have been eating it unknowingly and without issue for many years, and CWD isn't going away.

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Fordguy

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It's probably best to educate yourself and assess the risk by reading as many studies from accredited scientific and medical sources as possible.

The reality is that there's inherent risk in everything that we do. Knowing that there's the potential (however slight) that eating venison infected with a prion-based spongiform encephalopathy may cause a similar problem for you years or even decades down the road- is it worth it to consume the animal when you could avoid further risk?

Just because there hasn't been a documented case of a human with CWD doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. It's not routinely tested for in humans and prion diseases can be notoriously slow to develope.

Relying on the court of public opinion to sway you in one direction or the other is not the path that I would take, but it's your choice to make.
 
OP
Hoosker Doo

Hoosker Doo

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It's probably best to educate yourself and assess the risk by reading as many studies from accredited scientific and medical sources as possible.

The reality is that there's inherent risk in everything that we do. Knowing that there's the potential (however slight) that eating venison infected with a prion-based spongiform encephalopathy may cause a similar problem for you years or even decades down the road- is it worth it to consume the animal when you could avoid further risk?

Just because there hasn't been a documented case of a human with CWD doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. It's not routinely tested for in humans and prion diseases can be notoriously slow to develope.

Relying on the court of public opinion to sway you in one direction or the other is not the path that I would take, but it's your choice to make.
Very well stated. Thanks for the advice. My natural inclination for whatever reason is to throw caution to the wind (knowing very little about prion-based diseases and their spread between species, with a slight hint of CDC be damned after recent events) so it's good to have my personal baseline of sanity checked by objective people from varying backgrounds sometimes to see if my head's on straight 😉
 
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Looking at the science reports makes it sound like it’s near impossible to kill a prion.
So I tend to think your meat processing utensils and area are already exposed to some extent.

There are a few studies on “primates contracting CWD” and they just seem to add more questions. This article discusses some of the studies.


I think I’d toss it. Though I would probably eat it myself I know my wife wouldn’t eat it and I’d not feed it to my kids. Would be to much hassle and mental mind twist to try and keep it.
 
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I wouldn't eat it, being a prion disease. But then again my freezer is usually pretty full. I've never had this issue and I think in the moment having to decide to throw away any animal that LOOKS completely fine would feel very morally wrong so I get that part of it, but in the end it is what it is. Although you killed the deer, it's not your fault it had CWD and there was no way of knowing and in my mind it's not worth it to eat it. Having the technology to detect it and actually know that an animal has it should be something you should appreciate. You can worry that you're wasting it, but at the same time the deer did in fact have CWD so there's that. We have hoof rot in elk out here in WA and the mindset is similar, although hoof rot is from a bacteria that can die from heat, at least logically. Prion diseases and the lack of knowledge surrounding the long term effects from consumption don't outweigh the risks for me, at least not yet. Someone who lives in a CWD heavy area and might not have any other option if they want to regularly eat wild meat might feel differently. But I live in WA and currently have the option to pick and choose what I eat. YMMV.
 
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I run a catering franchise and the golden rule is never serve anything that might make a person ill. If (God forbid) you did cause someone to suffer...the pain would be far worse than dumping one deer. You'd never forgive yourself. Some risks are small and that's usually when Murphy's Law prevails.
 

grfox92

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Looking at the science reports makes it sound like it’s near impossible to kill a prion.
So I tend to think your meat processing utensils and area are already exposed to some extent.

I have heard this tossed around before, but I don't think its right. CWD is tested and detected in one specific gland out of the head. It isn't detected in the meat and can't be from how I understand it.

That to me means the meat itself is not infested with prions. If it was they would just test the meat of the animal for detection like they do for say trichinosis.

I'm no expert and could be wrong.

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cnelk

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Does the WGF give you another tag since the deer tested positive?

Note: keep testing for stuff and you'll always find something
 

SirChooCH

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See if they give you another tag, toss the meat and get another deer.

Look up what they did to the 2 farms in the US that tested pos for mad cow…kill ‘em all, burn the bodies, quarantine the area. Mad cow didn’t jump to humans either…til it did. Takes time to effect humans. So I say toss it. I hunt CWD zones for whitetail in Mi but haven’t had one test pos yet. But my plan is not to eat it if they do.
 

NB7

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Not sure if I'd eat it or not, never been in that position of having a confirmed CWD deer to make that call. Considering the easy availability of whitetails where I live I'd prob pass and get another one. Although you might not have that option.
But with that said, after the last couple of years, I'm not taking what the CDC and WHO say as the final word on anything.
 

TSAMP

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Seems like we've covered the issue well again. Time to move on and post it in the Meat & Trophy care sub forum now.
 
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