WYOMING – Hunters throughout the area are familiar with the issues presented by chronic wasting disease in local whitetail and mule deer populations, and now, the threat to elk has been discovered by Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials.

A press release issued Dec. 19 indicated “the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in Elk Hunt Area 127.”

Though Elk Hunt Area 127 is some distance away, in Lander, the prevalence of CWD has been located most of the state of Wyoming.

“The disease was detected in a cow elk in November. This marks the fifth elk hunt area where CWD has been detected this year,” the release reads. “Elk Hunt Area 127 is in the Lander Region and overlaps Deer Hunt Areas 157 and 171, where CWD was detected in 2012 and 2015, respectively.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. It has been found in some areas of North America, including Canada and the United States, Norway and South Korea. It may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms. CWD can affect animals of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. CWD is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.”

The CDC states there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans, but they also discourage anyone from eating an animal infected with CWD out of concern for the possibility of risk to humans.

“Since 1997, the World Health Organization has recommended that it is important to keep the agents of all known prion diseases from entering the human food chain,” an article from the CDC reads. “Hunters must consider many factors when determining whether to eat meat from deer and elk harvested from areas with CWD, including the level of risk they are willing to accept. Hunters harvesting wild deer and elk from areas with reported CWD should check state wildlife and public health guidance to see whether testing of animals is recommended or required in a given state or region. In areas where CWD is known to be present, CDC recommends that hunters strongly consider having those animals tested before eating the meat.”

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department makes it a priority to alert the public whenever CWD has been discovered in a new hunt area.

“Continued monitoring of CWD over time is important to help Game and Fish understand the potential impacts of the disease as well as evaluate future management actions for deer and elk,” the release reads. “A map of CWD endemic areas is available on the Game and Fish website. The disease is 100% fatal to deer, elk and moose that have been infected. To date this year, Game and Fish personnel have tested 6,309 CWD lymph node samples from deer and elk — primarily submitted by hunters — and continue to evaluate new recommendations for trying to manage the disease.

To learn more about CWD and its impact on Wyoming wildlife, visit https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/More-Wildlife/Wildlife-Disease/Chronic-Wasting-Disease. To view the map of CWD endemic areas, visit https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Wildlife-in-Wyoming/More-Wildlife/Wildlife-Disease/CWD-in-Wyoming-Wildlife/CWD-Map.