Grant given for disease research....

SCI And Mossy Oak Pool Funds To Support Disease Research

6/4/2009

Safari Club International Foundation (SCI) and Mossy Oak are teaming up to help hunters and conservation, including funding of white-tailed deer research at the University of Georgia. Mossy Oak is also the newest SCI Corporate Sponsor, supporting SCI's mission to protect the freedom to hunt and to promote conservation.

Mossy Oak and the SCI Foundation signed an agreement this week to jointly fund a conservation research project at the world-renowned College of Veterinary Medicine's Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) at the University of Georgia. The project will investigate reasons for expansion of epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses (EHDV) and bluetongue viruses (BTV), better define the impacts of these viruses on deer populations, and then develop recommendations to control and curtail spread of the diseases if possible.

"We are seeing new BTV and EHDVs affecting deer in the United States and in recent years have experienced some major mortality events in wild deer populations. At present, we do not know why these events are occurring and do not fully understand their potential impacts on deer management," said SCWDS scientist Dr. David Stallknecht, who has been studying hemorrhagic disease of deer since the 1980s.

SCI conservation, education and humanitarian services work is funded with proceeds from its annual convention each January in Reno, Nevada, and through generous support of its exhibitors, donors, advertisers, members and corporate sponsors like Mossy Oak. Since 2000, SCI has provided $47 million in these three strategic arenas to help hunters and wildlife.

Mossy Oak has a history of giving back to leading causes and programs that support hunters and conservation.

"Conservation is very important to Mossy Oak in that it allows us to live the outdoor lifestyle we love and pass down that love to our children," said Toxey Haas, Founder and CEO of Mossy Oak. "We're proud to partner with SCI in order to provide an educational opportunity that will essentially help maintain healthy deer populations."

Mossy Oak and SCI will work with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study to share the research findings with the hunting public and the appropriate wildlife professionals concerned about maintaining healthy white-tailed deer populations throughout North America. Additional coverage of the research may be seen on future episodes of SCI's Expedition Safari program on the Outdoor Channel and Mossy Oak's

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."