Anyone driving from Warren to Jamestown has likely seen a billboard on the side of Route 62 warning about Chronic Wasting Disease.

The disease is a fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose. Since its discovery in 1967, CWD has spread geographically – including an area of Warren County, Pa. and Oneida County in New York state as recently as 2005. The saving grace of chronic wasting disease is that it doesn’t affect humans.

There have been no reported cases in Chautauqua County that we can find. We’re not sure the deer running around Jamestown aren’t affected, however. Deer affected with chronic wasting disease show some warning signs, including progressive loss, decreased social interaction with other deer, loss of awareness and loss of fear of humans. All CWD symptoms can have other causes and could lead to misdiagnosis of the condition if the animal is not specifically tested for CWD.

So how can we know definitively if deer in the area have chronic wasting disease if the DEC doesn’t test deer that are reported to be acting suspiciously? That’s the million dollar question. A deer acting strangely on the south side of Jamestown – malnourished, alone, disoriented and unafraid of humans to the point of having to be prodded out of a garage with a rake – died on a front lawn over the weekend. The DEC’s response when the animal was reported was that a conservation officer would euthanize the animal, but disposal was up to the property owner.

Wouldn’t it make sense to test a deer acting so strangely if chronic wasting disease is a real problem for the region’s deer population? The state’s response to this deer over the weekend says otherwise – and that’s a problem given all the deer running around backyards throughout the city. As we said, at least chronic wasting disease isn’t a serious threat to people and their children. But we also have a feeling, for those who don’t want the city to do anything about its growing deer population, that dragging a dead deer that may have chronic wasting disease to the road isn’t the slice of country people in Jamestown want to experience.

The state thinks enough of chronic wasting disease to spend money on a billboard. But that seems to be the extent of the state’s concern.