I have more fears of the fears of CWD, than of CWD itself.
My greatest fears regarding CWD have become fear of government agency responses,
many of which may be motivated by mass hysteria & fear,
some of which are motivated by various individuals and competing agencies (as well as organizations)
trying to gain more power & control over each other.
Think about this:
Over the past few years, there has been a growing movement promoting deer hunting as a great "new" (old) way of procuring "organic" meat. Many of today's newest hunters have been coming from non-hunting families, drawn to deer hunting mainly for the purpose of safe "organic" food.
This could very well save the future of hunting?
Meanwhile, there are many people (albeit a minority of people) and organizations very opposed to hunting, primarily because they see it as cruelty to animals. Many of these people are vegans, although most may themselves regularly buy meat at groceries & restaurants.
But if we instill a fear of humans consuming venison,
would this not be like throwing gasoline on the fire of anti-hunting sentiments?
Never mind, that at least to date, humans consuming even known CWD-tainted venison appears safer than humans consuming USDA-inspected beef currently sold at groceries & restaurants.
Has the CWD issue become more about fear-mongering, power & control of competing ideas, competing government agencies, competing organizations?
I don't mean to undermine our real concerns about all the negative effects of CWD.
It is in fact bad stuff, at least for the deer who get it.
And again, so far, I believe TWRA's response to the CWD threat in TN has been prudent.
Yes, we need to be very concerned about every aspect of CWD, including the possibility it could some day jump the barrier and be transmitted to humans instead of just other deer. Let's just keep it all in a good perspective, and be sure we analyze all 3 sides of each coin, without making too many unfounded fear-based reactions.
