WHITE-TAILED BUCK HARVESTED NEAR MOORCROFT TESTS POSITIVE FOR CWD

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A white-tailed buck harvested Nov. 1 in hunt area 3 about three miles northwest of Moorcroft has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a brain disease known to affect some deer, elk and moose.

Personnel at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Laboratory analyzed samples Nov. 5 that were collected as part of the department's annual CWD survey and discovered positive results for the deer.

As with other new areas testing positive for CWD this year, WGFD wildlife disease specialist Hank Edwards said the discovery of CWD in hunt area 3 was not surprising since it borders endemic deer areas 2, 18 and a small portion of 8.

After a review of available scientific data, the World Health Organization in December 1999 stated, "There is currently no evidence that CWD in cervidae (deer and elk) is transmitted to humans." In 2004, Dr. Ermias Belay of the Center for Disease Control said, "The lack of evidence of a link between CWD transmission and unusual cases of CJD, [Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a human prion disease] despite several epidemiological investigations, suggest that the risk, if any, of transmission of CWD to humans is low." Nonetheless to avoid risk, both organizations say parts or products from any animal that looks sick and/or tests positive for CWD should not be eaten.

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