The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has a new tool it can use to help measure any future efforts to try and manage chronic wasting disease; a disease that is fatal to deer, elk and moose. The new regulation allows WGFD to mandate that harvested deer, elk and moose in certain hunt areas be tested for CWD.
“We continue to ask hunters in certain hunt areas to have their animal tested. This is voluntary, but there will be an enhanced push to get samples from deer, elk and moose,” said Scott Edberg, deputy chief of the Wildlife Division. “This year, our goal is to collect good CWD prevalence data for a regional research study evaluating deer management and CWD outcomes across the West.”
Recent research in Wyoming and Colorado shows that it poses a serious threat to some deer populations where the disease prevalence is high and may even be impacting elk in at least one Colorado population.
Find more information here.
(Photo source: Wyoming Game and Fish Department)