CWD UPDATE 65 October 6, 2005

The Colorado Division of Wildlife has confirmed CWD in a free-ranging moose for the first time. Previously, researchers in Wyoming had been able to infect moose with CWD under experimental conditions. The Colorado report is the first report of a natural infection in a free-roaming animal. The moose was harvested by a bow hunter in Jackson County, south of Cameron Pass in Game Management Unit 171.

The total count for free-roaming CWD positives in Alberta is now up to three, all mule deer (two male and one female). Alberta Sustainable Resources had collected an additional 113 deer in the vicinity of the first positive and found two additional positives. All positives are within 10 km of each other and the Saskatchewan border. ASR is planning another field collection in the vicinity of one of the new positives and has opened up the opportunity for hunters to harvest more deer in the area.

Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania has approved a CWD response plan developed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pa. Department of Agriculture, Dept. of Environmental Protection, Department of Health, and PA Emergency Management Agency as well as the USDA Wildlife Services and USDA Veterinary Services. The PA Department of Agriculture, with the support of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, is ordering an immediate ban on the importation of high-risk carcass parts from states and Canadian provinces that have a history of CWD in free ranging deer populations, with two exceptions; parts are banned only from the containment area in New York, and from Hampshire County in West Virginia. The CWD Response Plan is online at www.agriculture.state.pa.us, click on ‘Animal and Plant Health,’ ‘Chronic Wasting Disease,’ and ‘Response Plan.’

The three presumptive positive whitetail deer from Hampshire County, West Virginia have been confirmed to be positive through IHC testing. A total of 121 samples have been tested to date with the remainder not having CWD detected. The three deer confirmed positive for CWD this week were collected within 2½ miles of the original positive animal. These three deer, combined with the original positive animal, brings the total number of confirmed CWD positive cases within Hampshire County to four. The West Virginia DNR has intensified deer collection efforts within the surveillance area to accurately determine the prevalence and distribution of CWD in this region of the state

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