The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is reminding hunters of a regulation designed to help keep Vermont deer healthy by banning the use of any deer lure containing deer urine or other deer bodily fluids.
The infectious agent of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal disease of deer, is a mutant protein or “prion” that can be passed in urine. Prions can bind to soils and remain infectious for many years. Nearly all urine-based lures are produced in captive deer facilities, where CWD is most likely to occur. There is no accepted way to test live animals, and infected animals can spread CWD for years before showing any symptoms. No amount of testing or special certification program can eliminate the risk of spreading CWD through urine lures.
CWD is 100 percent fatal to deer and moose. It causes irreversible population declines and has been impossible to eliminate once it becomes established in a population. CWD has not been detected in Vermont.
“No single buck is worth risking the health of Vermont’s entire deer herd,” said Nick Fortin, Vermont’s deer biologist. “If someone feels they must use a lure, there are legal, synthetic alternatives that are just as effective.”
“If CWD becomes established in Vermont, the deer population, deer management and deer hunting will never be the same. The most effective way to control CWD is to prevent it from getting here in the first place.”
More information about Chronic Wasting Disease can be found at www.cwd-info.org and by typing CWD in the “Search” section at www.vtfishandwildlife.com.