Animal activists say more could have been done to save 22 euthanized fawns
By Addie Meiners
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MEADE COUNTY, Kentucky (WLKY) — Animal activists Jessica Powell-Page and Krista Embry said they are angry and sad, after 22 fawns were euthanized on Tuesday.
In a statement to WLKY, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife said the fawns had to be euthanized because they were rescued from one of the state’s Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance zones.
It is illegal to rehabilitate a deer from one of the three zones, according to Kentucky law.
The statement said Chronic Wasting Disease is “an always fatal, neurological disease affecting white-tailed deer, elk and other animals in the deer family. There is no known cure or vaccine, and the disease can cause months or years of suffering for the infected animals. Movement of animals can increase the range of the disease over a greater area. There is not an approved CWD test for live animals.”
However, Powell-Page and Embry said the fawns showed no signs of CWD, nor were they believed to be exposed to the virus.
“The 22 fawn that were slaughtered were there at Broadbent, in sanctuary, from March to June. We’ve had no cases since then. So what makes them think that they were exposed to Chronic Waste Disease?” said Embry.
“There’s been two cases confirmed in 2 years of the wasting disease. Why are they not investigating more to figure out what other alternatives there are?” said Powell-Page.
Both women said they would like to see better testing for CWD, and to have laws that allow for the rehabilitation of deer within surveillance zones.
“In other state you can rehab in the surveillance zones. Why can we not do that here in Kentucky?” said Embry.
“Why was that the only option, to allow fish and wildlife to come in and mass euthanize these babies when there could have been other options explored? Was a legal step made to stop this?” said Powell-Page.
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