South Dakota - GFP Reports On Chronic Wasting Disease

PIERRE, S.D. – As part of its ongoing surveillance for the presence of chronic wasting disease in deer and elk in South Dakota, the Game Fish and Parks Department tested more than 1,700 animals from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011.

Eight elk and 25 deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease during the period. That compares to seven elk and 21 deer last year, and 14 elk and 21 deer two years ago.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease of the central nervous system found in elk and deer.

GFP began testing for presence of the disease in 1997 and has tested more than 23,000 wild deer and elk. A total of 173 cases of chronic wasting disease were found among the tested animals.

“We have learned that chronic wasting disease has a very low presence in South Dakota, and it has been very rare to find the disease outside of the area where it was originally discovered in the southwestern part of the state,” said GFP big-game biologist Steve Griffin.

This past year, 71 samples were collected from North Dakota hunters in cooperation with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.  Two mule deer tested positive in North Dakota over the past two years in an area north of Corson and Perkins counties in South Dakota.

“We will continue to cooperate with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on monitoring in both states to determine how prevalent CWD is in the area,” Griffin said.

“We will again be testing this fall,” he added. “One of our primary sources for tested animals is voluntary cooperation from deer and elk hunters in designated areas. The work that hunters do to assist us with this program has been vital to our success in monitoring CWD.”