As we get into the heart of hunting season, Wyoming Game and Fish’s dumpster disposal program is back to help limit the spread of diseases.
All throughout the state, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is providing dumpsters for hunters and processors to dispose of their wildlife carcasses. This is important in helping minimize the spread of a deadly disease among big game.
A map is available on the department's website.
Also known as zombie deer disease, chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal, irreversible neurological illness spread through contact with blood, feces, urine and saliva.
It's basically the same as mad cow disease only for deer species, elk, moose and caribou.
"It's always an important time of year to be considering chronic wasting disease, which is a fatal disease to cervids, or members of the deer family," said Janet Milek with Wyoming Game and Fish's Casper region.
The disease is spread in multiple ways, and while we can't control the direct spread between the animals themselves, we can control environmental contamination.
Milek said it can be spread by the irresponsible disposal of a dead carcass, which is where these special dumpsters come in.
"It allows people who are out hunting a place to dispose of their carcasses after they processed the animals and to keep those positive agents of CWD, which are called are called prions, off of the landscape," said Milek.
Milek said the dumpsters help us get one step closer to limiting the risk of exposure to other animals and ourselves.
"We just want to make sure that if people are hunting their species, they have an appropriate place to dump those carcasses."
Hunters can also voluntarily test their harvested animals by sending in a lymph node sample to Game and Fish.
While there has been no documented proof that humans can get CWD, it’s recommended to not eat game infected with it.
A recap of the state's regulations about transporting game is on the department's website.
Last year, elk on some of the state’s feed grounds tested positive for the first time.
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.