The Political Animal Podcast: One More Invisible Threat in America: Zombie-Like Deer That May Be Roaming Our Forests

(MENAFN- EIN Presswire) WASHINGTON, DC, USA, April 11, 2020 / EINPresswire.com / -- Click here to listen to The Political Animal Podcast Episode 11 now on iTunes.

During the last few weeks, we've all had a crash course on pandemics and other zoonotic diseases. On this platform, I've written about risks related to 'wet markets' and cockfighting derbies and factory farms. But there's also an obscure threat to animal and human health burrowing into brain and soil in the United States, and it appears to be originating from commercial deer farms.

There are more than 4,000 such farms – a close relative to the exotic hunting ranches that offer 'canned hunts' -- in the United States. The deer farms have proved to be eerily efficient incubators of Chronic Wasting Disease, a brain-wasting disorder afflicting cervids and in the same class as the more familiar Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (the human variant). Both can be transmitted to people through consumption of infected body parts. The animal victims turn into Zombie-like creatures before perishing from a disease that eats holes into their brains.

On today's show, host Joseph Grove has a discussion with award-winning environmental and outdoor writer Ted Williams. Williams has dazzled readers for years with his prose and insights at Audubon magazine, and he's written with impact and influence for other environmental, hunting, and fishing journals. He knows the world of consumptive use sports as well as anyone, and he's also been sounding the alarm about game farms for years as a threat to wildlife and to sportsmen.His talk with Joseph Grove and Animal Wellness leaders Wayne Pacelle and Marty Irby is sure to alert to a little-known industry that may be spawning big-time problems.

The Political Animal podcast is a regular segment that not only delivers timely information but offers insights and analysis you won't hear anywhere else. We'll offer in-depth discussions of local, state, or federal policy and elections, and the effects of laws and regulations on corporations. We hope you'll listen today, and also check out Episode 10: Pets and the Coronavirus, Episode 9: The Ongoing Horrors of Trapping, Episode 8: Updates on the Corona Virus and The Bear Protection Act, Episode 7: Fixing the Lethal Abuses in Horseracing, Episode 6: The Role of the USDA Checkoff Problems in Harming Animals and Family Farming in the U.S. Episode 5: Fighting a Diabolical Plan to Round Up Tens of Thousands of Wild Horses. Episode 4: Big Cats: Endangered in the Wild and in Danger as Captives in the U.S., Episode 3: Michael Vick and the Continuing Battle Over Animal Fighting, about the renewed attention on convicted dog-fighter and NFL player Michael Vick and implementation of the latest animal fighting law, Episode 2: Shark finning, horseracing, and the PACT Act that includes a layered discussion of how the committee process works and why it's so difficult to even get common-sense measures into law. If you missed our first episode, you can listen here: Episode 1: 2019 Victories for Animals.

Wayne Pacelle is the founder of Animal Wellness Action, president of the Center for a Humane Economy, and former president of the Humane Society of the U.S. who conceived the idea of the PACT Act. He founded the Humane Society Legislative Fund and prior to that, he was executive director of The Fund for Animals. The Non-Profit Times named him seven times as one of the nation's top 50 non-profit executives, and in 2005, he was named executive of the year. Pacelle is a two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Bond, and Humane Economy.

Marty Irby is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action. Irby worked in the United States House of Representatives for Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY) serving as Communications Director and Animal Protection and Agriculture Policy Advisor. He is a former president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' and Exhibitors' Association, where he led the charge to bring an end to the painful practice of 'soring' walking horses. Irby is a Heritage Foundation Congressional Fellow, former director of equine protection and rural affairs at the Humane Society of the U.S., and native of South Alabama who grew up on a horse and cattle farm. He graduated from the University of South Alabama with a degree in Communications, attended Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and was named by The Hill as one of nation's Top Lobbyists for 2019.

Joseph Grove is a freelance writer and six-time recipient of awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. His background also includes hosting a radio show called Jargon on WQMF FM in Louisville, Ky., and podcasts for Bisig Impact Group and Southern Gaming and Destinations. He began dedicating his volunteer time to animal issues in 2014 and currently works as a court-appointed special advocate for children in family court in Shelby and Spencer Counties in Kentucky.

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