Chronic wasting disease could make it harder to see deer in more ways than one. A number of states, in an attempt to stop the spread of CWD, have banned the practice of feeding wild deer. Pennsylvania is not among them. It’s illegal to feed black bears and elk in this state, but the feeding of deer is still OK. The question is whether that’s a wise thing. Wildlife management officials elsewhere don’t think so. A number of studies have investigated the pros and cons of feeding and/or baiting deer. One, released in February 2003 by the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre, concluded that artificial feeding of deer does not cause disease. It does, however, make the spread of disease much more likely, given that it concentrates animals in unnaturally high numbers. “If one or more animals are harboring an infectious organism or prion, its transmission to unaffected animals is facilitated by the increased frequency of contact among animals congregating at the feeding site,” the Canadian report reads. Wildlife officials in Wisconsin banned the feeding of deer after wasting disease showed up in that state in 2002. New York outlawed feeding that same year. It was not a popular decision initially. In fact, a state lawmaker there was scheduled to introduce legislation that would have lifted the ban the very day that CWD was discovered in that state. That legislation won’t be proposed now that CWD has shown up in the state, said New York State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Michael Fraser, and rightly so. “Certainly the ban met with some opposition. But I think recent news, as unfortunate as it is, shows we’re moving in the right direction,” Fraser said. Vermont is the latest state headed toward a feeding ban. That state’s Fish and Wildlife Department first began debating the idea two years ago, largely because CWD seemed to be moving eastward. There were some skeptics early on, but the agency is expected to make the feeding of deer illegal by summer. It approved a ban in a preliminary vote once already and is scheduled to vote again this week. A third positive vote this summer will make things official. “When CWD suddenly appeared 150 miles to our west in New York, people without exception seem willing to accept anything that seems sensible,” said Vermont Fish and Wildlife spokesman John Hall. “Six weeks ago, this wouldn’t have seemed sensible. Right now it does.” Pennsylvania wildlife officials have known since at least 1997, when a report on the winter feeding of deer and turkeys was prepared for the agency’s bureau of wildlife management, that artificial feeding does more harm than good. That report concluded that winter feeding programs are “a wasteful use of resources under any circumstances” and “should be actively discouraged as a waste of money and effort as well as being potentially harmful to wildlife and habitat.” The practice of letting sportsmen and others feed deer has continued, however.

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