Abstract:
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a disease which affects white-tailed deer and elk in both wild and captive populations. In 2002 the Department of Environmental Conservation observed that CWD could possibly spread to New York State as the disease seemed to be moving towards the east. As a governmental regulatory agency, the DEC imposed emergency regulations on the public in the hope of stopping the spread of CWD. This thesis analyzes the DEC‟s discussion of CWD on its web site from 2002-2006. The analysis is based on two models of environmental risk communication: decide-announce-defend (DAD) and community collaboration (CC).
