TB....you seeing any of this???

[guppie9]

Malformations seen in Kodiak deer
The Associated Press
Published Monday, April 20, 2009

KODIAK, Alaska - Scientists say environmental toxins are the likely cause of an anomaly increasingly found in Kodiak's deer population.

A growing number of bucks lack a scrotum or evident testes and have the body conformation of does.

In most cases, the malformed bucks possess abnormal antlers including unusually sharp points and retention of velvet.

Jake Jacobson, a registered guide, first noticed abnormal bucks on Kodiak's south end 15 years ago.

He says that abnormality has since grown more common, particularly in the Aliulik Peninsula. Jacobson started collecting tissue samples from affected bucks in 1999.

Researchers at Colorado State University analyzed tissue and blood samples from abnormal and normal bucks taken by hunters on the Aliulik Peninsula and from other parts of Kodiak.

Scientists say exposure to environmental contaminants are the likely cause of the anomaly.

 

[guppie9]

A bigger and better version of the story:

Something odd is happening to Kodiak’s deer population. Jake Jacobson, a registered guide and avid deer hunter, first noticed abnormal bucks on Kodiak’s south end 15 years ago. That abnormality has grown increasingly more common in the years since, Jacobson said.

The bucks in question lack a scrotum or evident testes, have the body conformation of a doe and, in most cases, possess abnormal antlers. Antler abnormalities include non-typical points, retention of velvet, and unusually sharp points. The bases of shed antlers are markedly concave, while in normal antlers they are convex.

Jacobson shot a buck in 1994 that exhibited these abnormalities. The following year he shot three such bucks, and in 1996 he shot six.

During deer season, Jacobson is a transporter for hunters on Kodiak’s south end, and he started examining deer taken by his hunters. In the last six years, 74 percent of the 40 to 50 bucks taken annually exhibited the abnormality. The great majority of the bucks came from the Aliulik Peninsula.

In 1999 Jacobson began to collect tissue samples from affected bucks. He sent samples for analysis, first to the Arctic Institute, then to Guelth University in Ontario.

Colorado State University became involved in the study in 2002. Researchers analyzed tissue and blood samples from abnormal and normal bucks taken by hunters on the Aliulik Peninsula and from other parts of Kodiak.

The abnormality is called cryptorchidism, in which the testes remain in the abdominal cavity rather than descending into the scrotum. Bucks with the condition are sterile and do not go into rut. The incidence of cryptochidism in normal deer populations is typically less than 5 percent.

Of the bucks taken from the Aliulik Peninsula, 72 percent were cryptorchid, while 12 percent of the bucks taken from other parts of the archipelago exhibited the condition. Lesions and testicular carcinoma were also present in many of the testes sampled.

Genetic differentiation was found to be low when comparing samples from the Aliulik Peninsula with those taken from other parts of Kodiak. The same low genetic differentiation was found in comparing cryptorchid and non-cryptorchid bucks from the Aliulik Peninsula.

Researchers did not find patterns of genetic isolation or inbreeding that would indicate mutation in one or more of the original deer transplanted on Kodiak as the root cause of the problem.

The data suggests, instead, exposure to environmental contaminants as the likely cause of the anomaly.

Researchers theorize that exposure to an estrogenic endocrine disruptor by pregnant does during the first half of gestation could be affecting the fetuses.

If an environmental contaminant is the underlying cause, it could come from a man-made agent or from ingesting a plant containing phytoestrogens.

The Aliulik Peninsula is unique habitat when compared with the rest of Kodiak, and perhaps the diet of deer there is correspondingly different. Beaches on the Aliulik Peninsula exhibit extensive accumulations of kelp and seaweed. This could be a favored browse during winter months, when does are pregnant.

Samples of a variety of plants from the Aliulik Peninsula await analysis, but that process is very expensive. Many of the samples from the 337 deer Jacobson has provided also await the funding necessary for a detailed analysis.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Larry Van Daele acknowledges the unique nature of the Aliulik Peninsula.

“The fact that deer are living in caribou habitat may have something to do with it,” he said.

However, he takes a cautious approach in interpreting the data.

“There is possible bias in the data collection. Jake’s hunters could be targeting affected bucks. There’s no indication the population on the Aliulik Peninsula is decreasing at a rate different from other parts of the island as you’d expect if more than 70 percent of the bucks there were sterile,” he said.

Budget constraints have prevented Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge staff from undertaking a formal study of the phenomena.

“We’re aware of the problem, but due to funding we don’t know too much about it,” refuge biologist Brandon Saito said.

In order to get a more complete picture of the problem, Jacobson and Van Daele are drafting a hunter questionnaire that will be distributed to all local license vendors, transporters and guides and will be readily available to the public. Jacobson is also collecting any samples or anecdotal information hunters may want to pass on. He can be reached by phone at 486-5253.

 

[TBinKodiak]

I've never shot one without nuts that I know of. They are rare on this end of the island, but like the article says more common on the southend. It'll be interesting what they find out.