Second tests on tissue samples from a white-tailed buck harvested in southern Liberty County and a mule deer doe harvested within the CWD-positive area in Carbon County came back positive for chronic wasting disease. The lab at Colorado State University confirmed the tests.
The whitetail in Liberty County was harvested in hunting district 400, but outside both the current CWD-positive area and the 2018 priority surveillance area, which includes the northern half of Liberty County. As a result, FWP expanded the CWD-positive area to include all of Liberty County. All of HD 400 is now included in the 2018 CWD surveillance effort.
The suspect deer in HD 575 was harvested northeast of Joliet in a current CWD-positive area, which encompasses Carbon County, east of U.S. Highway 212 and the Roberts-Cooney Road.
CWD is a fatal neurological (brain and nervous system) disease found in cervids – deer, elk and moose. The disease attacks the brains of infected animals and produces small lesions that result in death. There is no cure; once an animal is infected, it will die.
For more information about CWD, go to the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance website.
Find more details here about the Montana incidents.
(Photo source: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks)