On May 25, twenty-six leading wildlife conservation organizations, including the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), sent a letter to Kevin Shea, Administrator of USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), commenting on proposed changes to their Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Herd Certification Program (HCP) standards.
APHIS’ Herd Certification Program is a voluntary, national, and cooperative program which is implemented by participating states and tribes. As stated on USDA’s website, “The program’s objective is to achieve a national approach that minimizes the risk of spreading CWD in cervid populations through uniform national herd certification standards.”
Specific suggestions within the letter include: ensuring that all CWD-susceptible members of the Cervidae family are included in the program; the continuation of collection and reporting of national data on CWD prevalence, spread, and distribution; restrictions on the movement of CWD-positive/exposed/suspect animals from an origin facility; extension of quarantine requirements for farmed cervid facilities following CWD detection; and double fencing requirements, among others.
Additional information on federal legislation related to CWD can be found on CSF’s Issue Brief.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
