More CWD Positive Deer Found in the Northeast

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to make headlines. No matter how much people want it to go away, it isn't. This is an issue that we must face head-on. And according to a recent report from The Outdoor Wire, 25 new CWD cases were recently found. This disease is much more prevalent than once believed. It's spreading.

Since 2002, the Game Commission has tested over 61,000 deer for CWD, the report stated. Although samples are collected from across the state, efforts were increased within the three Disease Management Areas (DMAs), which are areas in the state where CWD has been identified in wild and/or captive deer. These include: DMA 1 in parts of Adams and York counties in which CWD was identified on a captive deer farm in 2012; DMA 2 in parts of Bedford, Blair, Somerset, Fulton, Cambria, and Huntingdon counties where CWD has been identified in multiple wild deer since 2012 and recently on three captive deer facilities; and DMA 3 in Jefferson and Clearfield counties where CWD was detected on two captive deer facilities in 2014.

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The number of positive cases has increased within the last couple of years.

The 25 new CWD-positive wild deer were part of 1,652 deer samples collected within DMA 2 during 2016, The report continued. CWD-positive deer included 13 road-killed deer, 10 hunter-harvested deer, and two deer showing signs consistent with CWD. No CWD-positive wild deer were detected in DMA 1, DMA 3, or the remainder of the state in 2016 or in any previous year. During late 2016 and early 2017, CWD also was identified on three captive deer farms in the south central part of the state in Bedford, Fulton, and Franklin counties. These are the first detections of CWD-positive captive deer within DMA 2. Additional information on these recent positives in captive cervids and the CWD surveillance and response program in captive deer can be found through the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

CWD continues to be a problem throughout much of the country. The only region left untouched is the majority of the southeastern states. And if this disease isn't contained soon, it'll likely spread to every state in America.

Click here to read the full report from The Outdoor Wire.

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