INDIANA, Pa. - — The National Deer Alliance (NDA) has announced its support for the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) draft Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Response Plan. NDA is a national non-profit conservation organization with a mission to serve as the guardian of wild deer conservation, and our hunting heritage. The NDA focuses entirely on policy that impacts deer and hunting, and one of its top priorities is deer diseases, and more specifically, CWD.
“We appreciate the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s hard work on this issue, and we fully support the agency’s efforts to create the draft CWD Response Plan, which relies heavily on hunters to help slow the spread of the disease,” said NDA President and CEO Nick Pinizzotto. “I can’t think of a less popular issue with sportsmen, and it would be easy to simply rely on hope that CWD goes away. The agency is hitting the disease head-on, and we appreciate that level of leadership.”
CWD is currently the most significant threat to the future of healthy deer populations, deer hunting, and the hunting industry. It is arguably the biggest challenge to broad wildlife conservation that sportsmen have encountered over the last century. First detected in Pennsylvania in 2012, CWD has continued to spread across the Commonwealth, including several positive deer being found in new areas this year. Data suggests that if no changes in CWD management are made, parts of Pennsylvania could eventually reach a 30 percent prevalence rate.
The NDA applauds PGC’s leadership and willingness to attack this critical issue head-on as described in the draft CWD Response Plan, and to not take a passive approach hoping that the disease simply goes away.
NDA continues to fully support PGC’s efforts to control CWD in Pennsylvania. Through their extensive work on this issue across North America, the NDA knows that the management goals and practices outlined in the draft CWD Response Plan are based on the best available science.
PGC’s management goals are appropriately aimed at ensuring sustainable herds and hunting opportunities into the future, and they support PGC’s inclusion of hunters and other stakeholders in the disease management process. The NDA stands ready to help PGC, Pennsylvania hunters, and wild deer in this perilous fight against CWD, which is an unrelenting opponent.
About National Deer Alliance: NDA is a nonprofit organization with a mission to serve as the guardian for wild deer conservation and our hunting heritage. Focusing primarily on issues at the policy level, NDA is a leader in advocating for sustainable, science-based conservation of wild deer and fair-chase hunting, and is a source for credible, responsible, and timely information. NDA is an established and respected leader in the fight against chronic wasting disease. Learn more at nationaldeeralliance.com.
Media Contact:
Nick Pinizzotto, National Deer Alliance, P: 833.255.3337; nick@nationaldeeralliance.com