Chronic Wasting Disease

The Wyoming Game & Fish Department recently approved a permit that allows for twice the number of deer than normal to be culled in response to rising chronic wasting disease (CWD) rates in city limits and the Black Hills region. The city has applied for a deer culling permit in previous years to reduce conflicts between residents and deer, though this wasn't related to concerns over CWD.

There are several hunting areas in the state that require hunters to submit a sample of their harvest to test for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). This is part of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) management of the deadly neurological disease.

As Colorado's big-game rifle season approaches, state wildlife officials are ramping up monitoring of chronic wasting disease, which continues to spread in deer and elk populations around the state.

Within a year, Wyoming will have a detailed elk management plan for the first time in history, and it will guide the state for the foreseeable future.The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has been working with the public since late last year to address arising issues.

Conservation groups are calling for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) to phase out state-run elk feedgrounds. This request comes as the agency is drafting its feedground management plan.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is slowly on the rise across the state, according to new data from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.The agency tested nearly 7,000 samples of which 13 percent were positive for CWD. The state has seen a 10 percent increase over the last decade, with cases most prevalent in the southeast corner of the state and the Bighorn Basin.

The Bighorn Basin will have a chance to give their two cents on Chronic Wasting Disease management for two deer herds in the area next week.

Once there is a seven percent prevalence of chronic wasting disease, the study predicts a modest decline of elk.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department plans to continue feeding elk in the winter at the Dell Creek Feedground in Northern Sublette County. A recent court decision found that the department's previous permit to winter feed elk, granted by the U.S. Forest Service, expired at the end of 2017 and there was no record of renewal, despite the department continuing to feed there in the years since.

A U.S. District of Wyoming Court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) improperly permitted two of the three feed grounds that were reviewed because they conducted improper environmental analyses.