Late Season Hunters Encouraged to Submit Heads for Testing

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) has detected chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer in two new game management units (GMU’s) where it was not previously detected in eastern Colorado. The new units are GMU 109 north of Burlington and GMU 84 west of Pueblo. One animal was reported to the DOW by a landowner west of Bonny Reservoir. It was in poor physical condition at the time of death. The second animal, in GMU 84, was a road kill picked up by DOW personnel west of Pueblo on Highway 96. Tissues from both animals were submitted to Colorado State University’s Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory and both had positive test results. In addition, two more deer harvested by hunters at Fort Carson in GMU 591 this year tested positive for CWD. Some late hunting seasons in Colorado continue through the end of January, and all successful hunters are encouraged to submit their animals for testing. In some units, including Fort Carson, the DOW has waived CWD testing fees encourage more hunters to have their animals tested. So far this year over 5,000 elk, 6,000 deer and 133 moose had been tested in Colorado. Elk submissions by hunters were down about 15 percent despite an increase in over the counter license sales of about eight percent, suggesting hunter interest in testing is waning or harvest was down or both. Chronic Wasting Disease affects the brains of deer, elk and moose. Brain tissue of infected animals degenerates causing weight loss, abnormal behavior and eventually, death. For more information about CWD, log onto: wildlife.state.co.us/cwd/index.asp

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