CWD UPDATE February 11, 2005

CORRECTION: In the last update, I mentioned a CWD positive mule deer reported by the Colorado Division of Wildlife near Fort Collins. My mistake, it should have been Fort Carson, which is located just south of Colorado Springs. This is the furthest south along the Front Range that they have detected CWD.

The Japanese government reports that a citizen of their country has died of variant CJD. The man, said to be in his 50s, is believed to have infected with the disease during a month-long visit to Britain in 1989.

South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks report that they have found 5 cases of CWD (4 deer and 1 elk) in free ranging animals in the testing period of July 1, 2004 to present. To date, South Dakota has found 27 cases of CWD (21 deer and 6 elk) in free ranging deer and elk since testing began in 1997-1998. Wind Cave National Park accounts for 8 of these animals (3 elk, 5 deer). This represents all the cervids collected by the state wildlife agency to date, however, there are still some pending tests from Wind Cave National Park submitted by the National Park Service.

During the 2004 hunting seasons, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department sampled 1,968 harvested deer (1,599 white-tailed deer and 369 mule deer) and 24 elk. About 1,900 results are pending; others were not positive. They also sampled 83 deer that were suspects, road-killed, or removed from facilities; all results not positive with 25 pending.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks report that they tested 2,134 deer from the 2004 hunting season with all results showing not positive.

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