The seized animals were all shot out of state by Oregon residents who illegally took the animals home whole or with some of the central nervous system, which could carry CWD.
And in one of those instances involving Wyoming white-tailed deer meat seized recently in Bend, the animal tested positive for CWD. It since has been seized by Oregon State Police officers and the case against the hunter is pending, authorities said.
Other cases involved hunters from Silver Lake, Salem and Hood River areas, the OSP said. None involved Southern Oregon residents.
The hunters have been cited individually for unlawful importation of wildlife parts, a Class A misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of a $6,250 fine and up to a year in jail.
"We're working at being more aggressive as CWD seems to be spreading to more states," said Lt. David Cleary of the OSP's Fish and Wildlife Division. "We want to do our part to see it doesn't expand to Oregon."
In the Oregon cases this year, all the hunters have told officers they did not know of the 2002 ban on importing wildlife parts from CWD-infected states and Canadian provinces, Cleary said.
"They don't want to be the one who brought something back that caused a problem in Oregon," Cleary said.
CWD attacks the brains of deer and elk, causing weight loss and eventual death, yet exactly how it spreads remains unknown. It has been detected in wild and domesticated deer or elk in 14 states and Canadian provinces, but never in Oregon.
It is related to the so-called "mad cow disease," but there is no evidence that CWD can sicken humans.
Infected animals can take up to three years to show symptoms. None of the 14 states or two Canadian provinces with documented CWD infections have been able to rid itself of the disease.
For the disease to transmit naturally into Oregon, it would require a chain of infected animals to stretch here from somewhere like Montana or Utah, where it has been detected. But that chain of events is considered less likely than having an infected carcass brought into the state.
The fear is that the prions — or agents that carry the disease — can live long enough in the environment that an exposed head or spinal column could infect an animal here and eventually take hold among Oregon's wild game.
Ron Anglin, wildlife division administrator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said his agency is constantly working on "checks and balances" that should keep Oregon CWD-free if followed.
Anglin called the rash of violations "worrisome" but "not frightening."
"We're operating under the principle that we can keep it out and it is incumbent upon hunters to help us with that," Anglin said.
Cleary said OSP officers have chosen to treat the violations as crimes and cite offenders into court to ensure future contact.
It also gives the ODFW a venue to collect compensation for any necessary testing and disposal of the imported carcasses, Cleary said.
CWD has been detected in deer, elk or moose in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Illinois, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and West Virginia, as well as the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The ODFW estimates about 600-800 hunters travel annually to CWD-infected states to hunt big-game species. Hunters can bring animals from those states only under the following conditions:
Only meat cut and wrapped commercially or privately; boned-out meat; quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached; hides and capes without the head attached; skull plates with attached antlers, all cleaned of all meat and brain tissue (velvet antlers are allowed); antlers; upper canine teeth; and finished taxidermy mounts.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2006/1109/sport/stories/cwd-journal.htm