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Note the animal's location and contact the Commission. Avoid cutting or puncturing the spinal cords or brains of animals taken in the areas where CWD occurs. Do not use household utensils to field dress or process your deer. Wear rubber or latex gloves when handling any harvested animal.
Can the Disease Spread to Other Animals, Such As Cattle?
Again, there is no indication or scientific evidence that the disease can spread to species other than deer or elk, but research in this area continues. Studies have shown that cattle placed in close and confined proximity with infected deer and elk have not developed the disease after living with them for over seven years.
How Common Is the Disease?
As more extensive steps have been taken to learn more about the disease, its spread, and its prevalence in both wild and captive deer and elk herds, the body of evidence continues to grow. It was once thought that the disease occurs naturally in less than 5 percent of the wild deer population and in about 1 percent of the wild elk population, largely based on studies conducted in the infected areas of Colorado and Wyoming. More recently, however, concern has increased that perhaps those numbers may be greater, particularly in the more socially oriented white-tailed deer populations.
Additionally, recent research indicates that there may be pockets of infection with very high rates of the CWD within the larger endemic area. Also, mature bucks appear to be infected at a higher rate than other portions of the population.
Upon learning that a number of captive whitetail taken inside the Sioux County game ranch tested CWD positive, and concerned about the Kimball County results, Commission staff in January 2002 began a culling operation within a 15-mile radius of the Sioux County game ranch. Of 113 wild animals taken in that culling operation, nine tested positive for the disease, for an overall infection rate of nearly eight percent. Of those testing positive, five were culled within two miles of the game ranch boundaries, two were culled within two to five miles, and two were culled within five to seven miles.
At the same time, Commission staff culled 172 mule and white-tailed deer from within the captive game ranch in Sioux County. Of 154 test results received, 79 animals tested positive. An additional culling, in cooperation with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, along our common border resulted in a sample size of 193 deer with all being negative.
Is the Commission Taking Any Other Actions?
The Commission has adopted an aggressive approach to understanding and managing the disease. In addition to staff culling operations, the Commission has asked hunters who have taken deer in the Panhandle and extreme southwestern Nebraska to donate the animals' heads for research. More than 15,000 deer have been tested since 1997 and only 78 of these have been positive for CWD. Additionally, culling operations will be conducted in any area where a CWD positive is found and around any captive facility that has an animal test positive.
Hunting regulations in the areas where CWD has been found in wild populations have been liberalized to allow the sporting public to assist in the control of this disease. The Commission is working with several other states, some federal agencies, and private non-governmental conservation organizations to develop a regional management plan for CWD and to encourage the U.S. Congress to provide additional funding for research and monitoring. We are also cooperating with several federal agencies in research efforts to answer some of the unanswered questions about CWD. Two research projects are currently underway in Nebraska. One in the Bridgeport-Broadwater area is tracking deer in a riparian ecosystem to determine the impact social behavior may have on the spread of the disease while the other is east of Alliance and is tracking a known infected herd of animals to determine their movements and how that may spread the disease.
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