Submitted by John Stauber on
The shocking news that the deer and elk version of mad cow disease, called chronic wasting disease (CWD), is present in Wisconsin's wild white tail deer has meant business is busier than ever for a Montana PR firm. The Kriegel Group represents the North American Elk Breeders Association. The trafficking in farmed elk and deer has spread CWD to a number of states and Canada, and it has spread from farmed animals into wild herds. Wisconsin has hundreds of elk and deer farms, and they are the chief suspects in the spread of CWD to the wild. Another PR problem for the elk industry is in their lucrative business of manufacturing nutritional supplements from elk antlers. Researchers are worried that CWD could be spread from nutritional supplements to people. Henry Kriegel's PR firm is pushing the dubious claim that the real problem with the spread of CWD are wild populations, not farmed deer and elk.