Walker, who is also a veterinarian, said DINZ has been seeking official advice on the M bovis risk to deer since the cattle disease was notified in NZ in July last year.
The outbreak holds lessons about the importance of farm biosecurity for all involved in livestock farming.
Neither DINZ nor the Ministry for Primary Industries have found any evidence suggesting M bovis is being carried by NZ deer species.
Mycoplasmas tend to be host-specific and M bovis, as its name suggests, is a pathogen that infects bovines including the North American bison, Walker said.
In North America there have been two confirmed cases of M bovis in white-tailed deer, a very low incidence in a national herd of about 30 million.
White-tailed deer are more closely related to moose and reindeer and only distantly related to the red, wapiti-elk and fallow deer farmed in NZ.
“Importantly, there have been no reports of isolation from elk in the United States, even though elk there often graze the same pastures as bison.
“Therefore DINZ, supported by MPI advice, believes the risk of M bovis infecting farmed deer in NZ is extremely low.
“This is why MPI is tracing only cattle movements from infected properties to identify places at risk of being infected,” Walker said.
While the official advice on M bovis and deer is reassuring for the industry Walker urged deer farmers to treat the outbreak as a wake-up call for farm biosecurity.
“TB, Johne’s disease, velvet leaf, Chilean needle grass and a number of other organisms are real and current threats that can be expensive to control.
“Stopping them before they come through the farmgate may be a bit of hassle but good farm biosecurity will also make your farm more resilient to an exotic pest or disease.
“Let’s face it, we have all tended to see biosecurity as being largely the responsibility of people wearing uniforms at the border but MPI biosecurity can’t possibly stop everything, not with trade, travel and tourism increasing.
“There will be other incursions. You just don’t want the incursion to happen on your farm.”
It is also critical that if an exotic deer disease outbreak does occur, the industry is ready to respond quickly.
“That means being able to trace animal movements on and off the farm so that risk properties can be identified and the outbreak contained.
“That’s what Nait is for,” Walker said.
“If you do your best to comply with Nait, at the very least you can’t be fined for non-compliance.
“But more positively, complying with NAIT means we are acting in our own interests as well as the interests of the whole deer farming industry.”
MPI is confident its tracing of at-risk beef and dairy properties for M bovis is robust.
“This means that if you farm or graze cattle you will have already been contacted if MPI believes they are at risk,” Walker said.
“MPI believes the organism is contained by strict biosecurity controls on all infected and suspected properties so the risk of your deer coming into contact with infected cattle is minimal.
“Therefore, while the eradication effort is under way, protect your farm and your deer by practising good basic farm biosecurity.”
Deer farmers with any concerns about M bovis should contact DINZ.
Meantime, DINZ will continue to monitor information about M bovis both in NZ and internationally.
“If there is any change in our assessment of extremely low M bovis risk to NZ farmed deer, farmers will be notified,” Walker said.
