Testing conducted during last year’s deer-gun season
COLUMBUS, OH – For the fifth year, testing of Ohio’s deer herd has found no evidence of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a degenerative brain disease that affects elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.
State officials collected 1,097 samples last year from hunter-harvested deer, primarily during the deer-gun season that ran November 27-December 3. Tests were performed at the Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory of the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
Since 2002, the Division of Wildlife has been conducting surveillance throughout the state for CWD, as well as epizootic hemorrhagic disease and bovine tuberculosis. While CWD has never been found in Ohio’s deer herd, it had been diagnosed in both wild and/or captive deer or elk in 14 other states and two Canadian provinces.
Since CWD was discovered in the Western United States in the late 1960s, there has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
The Division of Wildlife continues to carefully monitor the health of Ohio’s deer herd throughout the year. For the latest information on CWD, visit the Ohio Division of Wildlife, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, or the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance websites.