White-tailed Deer from 3F2 in North Dakota Tests Positive for CWD

A second deer taken from unit 3F2 during the 2013 deer gun season has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

A hunter shot the adult whitetail buck in western Grant County and submitted the head for testing as part of the hunter-harvested surveillance program. Testing was performed at Michigan State University, and verification of initial tests results are pending from a national lab in Ames, Iowa. In addition, results from the remaining 3F2 samples, as well as all samples from the eastern third of the state, should be known in another month.

This is the fifth deer to test positive for CWD since 2009, and all were from the same general area within unit 3F2 in southwestern North Dakota.

The hunter-harvested surveillance program annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In addition to unit 3F2, samples during the 2013 deer gun season were collected from units in the eastern third of the state.

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.

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North Dakota Mule Deer from 3F2 Tests Positive for CWD

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A mule deer taken from unit 3F2 during the deer gun season has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

Dr. Dan Grove, North Dakota Game and Fish Department wildlife veterinarian, said a hunter shot the adult buck in western Grant County and submitted the head for testing as part of the hunter-harvested surveillance program. Testing was performed at Michigan State University. Game and Fish is awaiting verification of initial tests results from a national lab in Ames, Iowa. The MSU lab still has some 3F2 samples to test, as well as all samples from the eastern third of the state.

Grove said according to the hunter, the animal looked healthy, with no visible signs of having any health issues.

This is the fourth deer, and first buck, to test positive for CWD since 2009, and all were from taken from unit 3F2 in southwestern North Dakota. All four were within the same general area.

The hunter-harvested surveillance program annually collects samples taken from hunter-harvested deer in specific regions of the state. In addition to unit 3F2, samples during the 2013 deer gun season were collected from units in the eastern third of the state.

CWD affects the nervous system of members of the deer family and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that CWD can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.

Related articles

• Fall Mule Deer Survey Completed (midwestdeerhunting.blogspot.com)

SUMNER COUNTY, KANSAS DEER DID NOT HAVE CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE

Initial test was false-positive
PRATT— In July, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) reported that nine deer had tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) during the 2011-12 testing period. The agency now reports that the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, after two different tests, did not detect CWD prions in the Sumner County deer, so initial testing in this case yielded a false-positive result. This reduces the total 2011-2012 positives to eight. Counties where CWD was detected during the 2011-2012 surveillance period include Wallace (one), Rawlins (one), Decatur (one), Norton (two), Trego (one), Ford (one), and Stafford (one).

The white-tailed deer in question was taken from Sumner County last winter. This result brings the total number of confirmed CWD cases in Kansas to 48 since testing began in 1996. In total, 2,446 animals were tested for CWD during the 2011-2012 surveillance period, Aug. 1, 2011, through July 31, 2012.
Annual testing is part of an ongoing effort by KDWPT to monitor the prevalence and spread of CWD. The fatal disease was first detected in the Kansas free-ranging deer herd in 2005 in Cheyenne County.

More information on CWD can be found on KDWPT’s website, ksoutdoors.com, or at the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance website, www.cwd-info.org.

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