Studying CWD composting at Sybille Wildlife Research Center

It’s possible that anyone who has recently traveled through Sybille Canyon on Highway 34 has seen what many have referred to as “giant coffins” outside the Game and Fish Wildlife Research Center in Sybille.

These are compost bins, not coffins, and the purpose of the research is to see if the composting process can decompose the prions that cause Chronic Wasting Disease.

Deer, elk, and moose suffer from CWD, a chronic, lethal illness of the central nervous system. Proteins known as prions that are misfolded are the cause of it. Animals may not exhibit any symptoms of illness in the early stages of the disease, but as it worsens, they lose weight, become lethargic, and ultimately pass away.

Prions’ capacity to endure in the environment is a significant obstacle to the spread of CWD. As a result, the environment may become contaminated for years, making it easier for the disease to spread to new people who consume contaminated feed.

Prior studies have indicated that naturally decomposing corpses infected with CWD have a role in habitat pollution. This made Sybille researchers question whether composting, a more robust decomposition procedure, could lessen the quantity of CWD prions released during the breakdown of an infected animal carcass.

Game and Fish research biologist Brie Hashem stated, “Composting creates a highly alkaline environment that can lead to intense microbial activity and high temperatures.” We believe that since those circumstances encourage protein degradation, CWD prions may be broken down or removed by that means. Additionally, we have added certain ingredients to the bins that we believe will improve the composting process.

We are expecting that these bins will work together to create the ideal environment for prions from diseased elk carcasses to degrade.