Wildlife officials in South Dakota are preparing a new plan to monitor and manage what many believe to be a long-term threat to the state’s deer and elk herds.
On March 14, a captive elk tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in Clark County.
That’s the farthest east the disease has ever been found in the state.
It was also the first time in more than 15 years that a deer or elk in one of the state’s nearly 70 captive deer facilities had tested positive for the disease.
State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven said an investigation into the discovery is ongoing. This is big news because many wildlife scientists believe chronic wasting disease might be one of the biggest long-term threats facing deer and elk in North America.
South Dakota’s first brush with Chronic Wasting Disease was back in 1997 when captive elk tested positive for it. But it wasn’t until November of 2001 that the first case of Chronic Wasting Disease was identified in a hunter-killed whitetailed deer. The deer was killed in Fall River County in the southwest corner of the state.
The Clark County case comes at a pivotal moment for the state in terms of how it will deal with the disease in its wild deer and elk herds.
On July 8, the state Game Fish and Parks Commission is scheduled to be presented with a new Chronic Wasting Disease Action Plan and a set of regulations aimed at better monitoring and controlling its spread.
The move comes at least in part as a response to research that found CWD might be a big factor in why some deer and elk herds are shrinking.
GFP wildlife program administrator Chad Switzer said new regulations may include restrictions on the movement of deer killed in areas where deer and elk are known to have CWD.
The department also is setting up to launch an education campaign aimed at giving hunters and the general public the latest information about the disease and what they can do to control its spread.
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