CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in Elk Hunt Area 28.
The disease was confirmed in a hunter-harvested cow elk in late December 2023.
Elk Hunt Area 28 is in the Lander Region and is bordered by Elk Hunt areas 127 and 98, where CWD was detected in 2022 and 2021.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. It may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms.
CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease, the CDC said. CWD is fatal to animals, and there are no treatments or vaccines.
“To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people,” the CDC website states. “Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain.”
To ensure hunters are informed, Game and Fish announces when CWD is found in a new hunt area. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that hunters not consume any animal that is obviously ill or that tests positive for CWD.
Continued monitoring of CWD over time is important to help Game and Fish understand the potential impacts of the disease as well as evaluate future management actions for deer and elk.
A map of CWD-endemic areas is available on the Game and Fish website.
The disease is 100% fatal to deer, elk and moose that have been infected. In 2022, Game and Fish personnel tested 6,701 CWD lymph node samples from deer, elk and moose — primarily submitted by hunters.
The Game and Fish website has more information on CWD testing, transmission and regulations on transportation and disposal of carcasses.
