We’re all familiar with the alphabet soup of Washington: POTUS, SCOTUS, SECDEF, FBI, CIA and ATF to name a few. Closer to home, most Montanans know what FWP, NPS and FWS stand for.
Montana hunters and anglers have had to contend with overharvest, pollution and fish consumption warnings, heat, drought and hoot-owl restrictions, chronic dewatering of trout streams, loss of wildlife habitat from too many roads, agency mis-management and too many permits going to wealthy out of state hunters. Now Montana hunters, anglers and wildlife lovers must contend with two new acronyms: the double-fisted threat of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, CWD is a 100 percent fatal disease that infects members of the deer family, including elk, moose, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. It has been documented along the Montana/Canada border and large areas in southeast, northwest and southwest Montana. It isn’t a virus, bacteria or fungus. Mis-folded proteins called prions spread and cause organ damage and death. The disease is slow-acting, degenerative, and always fatal. The name comes from the appearance of symptomatic animals, which get very skinny and sick-looking.
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The prions from infected animals can possibly spread to humans. All hunters should have their game tested for CWD before consuming and the Center for Disease Control recommends against eating meat from animals that test positive. There are CWD sampling stations across Montana.
HPAI, also known as “bird flu” is another increasing concern. It has raced through millions of chickens and has recently spread to cattle. HPAI has killed three grizzlies in Montana. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture it has also been found in an array of mammals including polar bear, Kodiak bear, black bear, mountain lion, bobcat, red fox, coyote, fisher and otters. These are predators and scavengers who may have eaten the remains of infected birds or the carcasses of animals that succumbed to HPAI.
Can or will these spread to humans? Scientists say it’s possible. Diseases originating in animals are known to spread to humans. Covid is believed to have spread from wild animals captured and kept alive in game markets which were consumed by humans. Mad Cow Disease has an obvious source.
Diseases and viruses are of many different kinds. One thing they have in common is that they tend to generate and spread through animals and birds who are confined in unnaturally dense concentrations which enables rapid spread. Huge chicken factories have received some blame for spreading HPAI. Millions of chickens were killed but they were replaced by millions more in the same overcrowded conditions. Game farms are also suspected in the spread of CWD to wild ungulate populations and CWD has been discovered in captive animals in five states and two provinces including Montana.
Disease is one of the five listing/delisting factors for species under the Endangered Species Act and we can expect it may be applied to more species as a significant concern. In the age of international travel a disease or virus could cross the globe in a day. Not much the ordinary Montanan can do about that.
But we can become more aware of what we can do here. Game farming needs more regulation and new permits should not be issued. Predators help cull the sick, infected animals and play a key role in limiting the spread of disease and keeping wild herds healthy. Programs that seek to reduce predator populations may have the unintended consequence of helping spread disease throughout our wildlife populations.
Mike Bader is an independent consultant in Missoula who has experience in grizzly bear management and research and has authored peer-reviewed scientific papers on grizzly bears and their habitat.
