First case of chronic wasting disease found in deer in Washington State

NEAR SPOKANE, Wash. — The first detected case of Chronic Wasting Disease found in a deer in Washington state has triggered a plan that’s been in place for years, though where it was found has the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife changing its strategy.

The dead deer that tested positive was found in a neighborhood in Fairwood, just outside of Spokane, the agency announced Monday. The suburban environment isn’t exactly what the protocols laid out in the management plan created by WDFW in 2021.

Because of the location, WDFW will be expanding the testing radius wider than the ten miles described in the plan, in order to get a more complete view of how animals in more wild environments will be conducted.

While there are some signs of CWD in the late stages of living dear, Dr. Meilia DeVivo says the only way to find out the prevalence of the disease in a herd, is by testing dead animals. For that reason, they expect to get a much clearer picture in the fall.

“The Hunting season will be key to collecting samples to understand [what the] extent of this outbreak is,” DeVivo said.

WFDW is finalizing it’s exact response, but Chief of Wildlife Sciences at WDFW Dr. Donny Mortorello says he “anticipates” requiring samples of game be sent to the state for testing.

“We’re really going to be asking for the help of Washington’s communities…so we can understand the distribution of this disease and the prevalence of this disease,” Mortorello said.

CWD’s arrival in Washington was inevitability, though Mortorello said “we were all hoping this day would be much further away.”

WDFW set a goal to test frequently enough to catch CWD in fewer than one percent of deer. DeVivo says, they estimate two to three percent of deer near Fairwood have it.

Fairwood, namely due to being a suburban environment Mortorello says, is one area that did not meet goals for frequency of testing WDFW has set. Part of the immediate response will mean more testing in the surrounding area in Eastern Washington.

“Our lens here is our detection area for immediate things,” Mortorello said, “We also have a lens that looks at the state.”

It’s not known how CWD was transmitted to deer in Washington, though DeVivo says they’ve tracked detections of the disease in Idaho. DFDW may look at restrictions around transporting deer to different areas of the state.

“The reality is it could pop up anywhere because of this human-assisted transport of CWD.” DeVivo said.

Researchers have not been able to rule out the disease transmitting to humans or pets, though in the several decades CWD has circulated in the rest of the United States, there has not been a case reported in a humans, dogs or cats.

“If it’s allowed to spread ad become prevalent in populations, we know from other states that it does have population impacts and you see a decline in those populations.” DeVivo said.

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