Chronic Wasting Disease

The state said the rapid detections on feedgrounds were anticipated, but still concerning.

Chronic wasting disease has struck the Black Butte elk feedground, making it the third feedground in the past three months. The fatal disease threatens to topple western Wyoming’s roughly 20,000 fed elk.

Recent chronic wasting disease cases on a feedground near Bondurant tells one wildlife biologist that disease prevalence in that area is higher than previously thought.

Wyoming has hit another unfortunate milestone: A second elk feedground with chronic wasting disease. The detection has the potential to threaten the future of western Wyoming’s elk herds.

A chronic wasting disease case was confirmed in two elk on the Dell Creek Feedground, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. This is the second incident of CWD on a feedground in Wyoming ever.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has detected the first positive case of Chronic Wasting Disease on an elk feedground in the state.

A handful of people at the meeting expressed concern over how the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is managing chronic wasting disease, which is a fatal neurological condition. The disease is one of the factors leading to lower mule deer numbers in the state.

CWD impacts the nervous system and can be fatal for deer, elk and moose. Game & Fish wants samples from elk and mule deer in certain hunting areas in the Bighorn Basin.

Researchers say dogs could alert wildlife managers of infected animals faster than lab results could confirm and could help surveille an environment for chronic wasting disease.

Every winter at 22 state-run feedgrounds in western Wyoming, elk descend from the mountains looking for more forage, and possibly hay. It all started about a 100 years ago. After some brutal winters, Wyoming started feeding elk to help them survive and to keep them off ranches. All these years later, elk have come to depend on it. But now, Wyoming says it can’t go on the way it always has, because of a deadly disease that can spread when elk congregate.