Increased MAF funding for CWD surveillance welcomed

6-Nov-2002

Deer Industry New Zealand welcomes the announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that increased funding will be provided to undertake additional surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in deer.

CWD is a brain wasting disease in elk and deer in the same family of diseases as BSE in cattle and scrapie in sheep.  New Zealand has never had a case of CWD and there is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to human health.

“We have had people in our export markets question New Zealand’s CWD-free status on the basis of low testing numbers historically” said MJ Loza, Deer Industry New Zealand CEO. “The additional funding announced today will enable more sampling to provide further evidence that NZ is CWD free. If we don’t do the testing, our claims of being CWD-free are open to greater question”.

Earlier this year Deer Industry New Zealand established a fund from industry levies to work alongside MAF, veterinarians and producers to encourage additional testing from targeted animals so CWD can be ruled out. “While MAF provides an incentive for veterinarians to submit samples for testing, our budget will be aimed at ensuring deer farmers are also incentivised to assist with sample collection.”

Deer Industry New Zealand hopes to operate its incentive programme to deer farmers alongside MAF’s current system for reasons of efficiency.  Deer Industry New Zealand will publish details on its surveillance funding for deer farmers after further discussions with MAF and stakeholder groups.