Wildlife officials claim up to 16 percent of male elk, deer and moose tested in Colorado tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and they’re doing something about it.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife created a task force to determine the prevalence of the disease and how to limit its spread. Part of that approach is to reduce the numbers of bucks in herds where CWD exists.
“If you are a hunter, we will need you to hunt because we need the samples you can provide,” said Matt Dunfee, CWD Alliance director, told the Denver Post. “If you are a wildlife enthusiast and want to see healthy deer and elk, you’ll need to push for funding for studies and for implementing all the recommendations in this plan for scientific management of CWD. The challenge for the public will be allowing these animals to be harvested. This disease does not go away. There is no vaccine. It is always fatal. And the only hope we have to manage it is to try to keep the prevalence low.”
CWD is an always-fatal neurologic disease like mad cow disease that affects deer, elk, moose and caribou. There are no known risks to livestock or humans.
(Photo source: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)