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| Keeping wildlife like these mule deer healthy is the goal of disease prevention and monitoring efforts. |
Although it has not been found in Washington deer or elk, chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a serious concern for wildlife managers here and elsewhere across the country.
Since it was first identified in Colorado several decades ago, CWD has since been found in 12 other states and two Canadian provinces.
Because no vaccine or treatment is yet available for this fatal disease, and because transmission of the illness is not fully understood, wildlife biologists here and in other states are taking steps to reduce the risk of introducing CWD into resident wildlife populations, and to monitor the health of native deer and elk.
Besides its wildlife management activities, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) also has undertaken a public information effort to educate hunters and others about CWD. Some of that information can be found on the department's special CWD website.
Thanks to past and current wildlife management actions, and simple geography, Washington is considered relatively low-risk for the appearance of CWD because:
- The disease has not been found in our neighboring states of Idaho and Oregon
- WDFW banned wildlife farming more than a decade ago, to reduce the chance of introducing diseases into wild deer and elk populations
- For the past two years, WDFW has urged hunters not to bring unprocessed (bone-in) deer or elk carcasses harvested out of state back to Washington. This year, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission made that recommendation a requirement for those hunting in states where CWD is known to occur.
Although it is hoped that CWD will not make its way to this state, WDFW has been actively monitoring for the disease since 1996. Over the past several years, as CWD and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) diseases became a growing concern nation-wide, monitoring programs here and elsewhere have been stepped up.
To date, 2,287 harvested Washington deer and elk have been checked for CWD. The Department plans to continue its monitoring program, while using hunter incentives and other efforts to increase the number and distribution of collected samples.
The following is a report on WDFW's CWD-monitoring program, compiled by department veterinarians Kristin Mansfield and Briggs Hall, along with Jerry Nelson, WDFW's deer and elk section manager.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Chronic Wasting Disease Program 1996-2003
Kristin G. Mansfield, P. Briggs Hall, And Gerald P. Nelson
From 1996-2000, a total of approximately 80 brainstems from deer and elk throughout Washington were collected by the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and tested for evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD) by immunohistochemistry. From 2001-2003, 2,149 brainstems from deer and 336 brainstems from elk where collected and similarly tested. The majority of the samples were collected during established hunting seasons from hunter-harvested animals and from road kills. Approximately 2-3 samples per year were collected from animals demonstrating clinical signs compatible with CWD. Of the 2,287 usable samples collected, all tested negative for CWD. From 2001-2003, an adequate number of samples was collected from 10/36 (28%) of WDFW deer population management unit (PMUs) to allow us to conclude with 95% confidence that CWD would have been detected if it were present in the population at a prevalence of 5%; and from 3/36 (8%) of the deer PMUs to allow us to conclude that it would have been detected if present at a prevalence of 1%. An adequate number of samples was collected from 2/10 (20%) Washington elk herds to allow us to conclude with >95% confidence that CWD would have been detected if it were present at a prevalence of 5%. FULL REPORT
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