(from another site)
Here is the latest in the bTB surveillance in Franklin and southern Fayette counties..
You folks that live in or hunt Franklin county and southern Fayette county need to be aware of those surveillance program..
Hello All,
Below is a summary of the surveillance plan for Franklin County and the southern half of Fayette County. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks again for helping us get the word out.
Cheers,
joe
Joe N. Caudell, Ph.D., CWB
State Deer Biologist
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Bloomington Field Office
5596 East State Road 46
Bloomington, IN 47401
JCaudell@dnr.IN.gov
Office: (812) 334-1137
Bovine Tuberculosis Surveillance in Franklin and Fayette counties, 2016
Bovine tuberculosis was detected by Indiana Board of Animal Health and US Department of Agriculture on a cattle farm consisting of 2 premises in Franklin County, Indiana in April 2016. Previously, bovine tuberculosis had been detected in farmed deer and cattle in late 2008 and 2009 in Franklin County and on a Dearborn County cattle farm in 2011. As a result, IDNR began a surveillance program to determine if bovine tuberculosis had spilled over into wild white-tailed deer in 2009. From 2008-2015, over 1,400 deer were tested and all tested wild white-tailed deer have been negative for bovine tuberculosis.
For 2016, we redesigned the sampling protocols in an attempt to detect bovine tuberculosis at lower prevalence rates by conducting bovine tuberculosis surveillance in Franklin and Fayette counties during the 2016 deer hunting season. The IDNR will need to collect samples from between 850 and 2,700 deer, depending on sex and age class of the animal. While any age and sex of white-tailed deer can become infected with bovine tuberculosis, surveillance from other states has demonstrated that sampling bucks older than 2 years of age is more likely to detect the disease. Therefore, obtaining samples from older age bucks will result in less total deer that need to be tested (approximately 850). If most samples come from does or bucks less than 2 years old, then more deer will need to be sampled. In general, a buck older than 2 years old equals about 10 yearling bucks from a bovine tuberculosis surveillance perspective. Therefore, our objective is to sample as many hunter-harvested bucks greater than 2 years old as possible and obtain the remaining samples with hunter-harvested does and younger bucks.
To meet this objective, the following strategies will be employed:
· The sampling area is all of Franklin County and the area south of State Road 44 in Fayette County.
· Hunters that harvest deer in either Franklin or Fayette counties will check in their deer on-line within 12 hours of harvest.
· During the check-in process, hunters will be instructed to contact the DNR using a toll-free number to facilitate participation in the bTB surveillance effort. A sample collection team based in Franklin County will be on call to meet with hunters to sample their deer. The samples needed are found in the head and neck of the deer, so this should be preserved if deer are processed in the field. Hunters that wish to have their deer mounted or processed can provide the name of the taxidermists or processor so that arrangements can be made to collect the samples from that location.
· During the youth weekend (September 24 & 25) and opening weekend of firearm season (November 12 & 13), DNR will be located at historic check stations and other convenient locations in Franklin and Fayette County at which hunters will be required to bring their deer within 12 hours of harvest to participate in disease surveillance. These locations will be advertised prior to these weekends.
· A collectable Deer Cooperator Patch will be issued to all cooperating youth and adult hunters who submit deer for bovine tuberculosis surveillance.
Additional Buck Tag
During 2016, hunters who harvest a buck 2 years old or older from the bovine tuberculosis sampling area and allow a sample to be collected (either by DNR staff, taxidermist, or at a processor) will qualify for an additional free buck tag that can be used to harvest a second older-aged buck from the bovine tuberculosis surveillance area. A buck older than 2 years old can typically be estimated in the field by the spread of the antlers and the number of antler points. The age will be confirmed by tooth wear replacement by a biologist. To judge your deer in the field hunters can look for:
· An antler spread that is equal to or greater than the width of the ears when the ears are in the alert or outstretched position.
Deer that are presented to a biologist that meet this criterion will qualify for an additional buck tag. Deer that do not meet these criteria, but are judged to be older than 2 years old by tooth wear by a biologist will also qualify for an additional buck tag.
The 2nd buck that is harvested must meet the same criteria as the 1st buck and must also be presented for sampling before hunters can obtain their registration number. Hunters will be allowed to keep antlers and the deer from both the 1st and 2nd buck.
Time Frame
Hunter harvested samples will be collected starting during youth weekend and continue through early December.
Agency Sharpshooting
If an adequate number of samples to meet the surveillance goal are not collected through hunter-harvested deer, personnel from DNR and USDA APHIS Wildlife Services will be utilized to remove deer from the surveillance area in early 2017. There are typically enough deer harvested by hunters in the surveillance area to meet the surveillance objective; however, we estimate that the vast majority of the deer older than 2 years old will need to be sampled. It is critical that hunters participate in the surveillance to eliminate the need for sharpshooting. It is also important that hunters encourage each other to participate in the surveillance. Indiana DNR considers sharpshooting an undesirable option; however, it may be necessary if successful hunter participation in the surveillance effort is low.
In Summer 2016, personnel from USDA removed deer from the affected property and this may continue through the hunting season. The deer that frequent or live on the properties where bovine tuberculosis was found are considered to be the highest risk animals and should be removed from the population in case they are infected. State and federal agency personnel are also trapping and sampling raccoons, opossums, and other mammals that live on the affected farm properties and may have become infected by bovine tuberculosis. For more information on bovine tuberculosis in Indiana visit the Board of Animal Health’s website on Bovine TB at
www.in.gov/boah/2396.htm Questions about the surveillance of bovine tuberculosis in Indiana’s deer should be directed to Joe Caudell, State Deer Biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources at 812-334-1137.
