Chronic Wasting Disease vigilance justified by research
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources workers load up a deer carcass destined for a landfill near Black Earth, Wis., after the state ordered a special deer hunt in March 2002 to determine how extensive chronic wasting disease was affecting deer in the state. More than a decade later, the disease continues to spread and infect more of the state's deer. (Associated Press)
HUNTING -- Washington and Idaho hunters can be lulled to sleep by the lack of news about a significant big-game disease that's faded from the region's headlines in recent years.
But not too far away...
Chronic Wasting Disease is killing about 19 percent of a Wyoming mule deer herd each year, according to a wildlife researcher.
A five-year study that examined 143 deer in Southern Converse County found that 19 percent of the herd is lost each year to CWD, according to Melia DeVivo, University of Wyoming doctoral student.
The herd numbered about 14,000 in the early 2000s. In 10 years, the population has dwindled to half that size.
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