JACKSON (WNE) — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department found chronic wasting disease in a deer hunt area directly east of Grand Teton National Park.
The positive case of the always fatal, highly transmissible disease was found in a hunter-harvested adult mule deer buck. Hunt Area 156, which is bounded by the Gros Ventre River, the Continental Divide, Fish Creek and Teton park, is bordered by four CWD-positive hunt areas. Parts of Spread Creek, Blackrock Creek and Cottonwood Creek run through the hunt area.
The find was “not entirely unexpected,” said Raegin Akhtar, Game and Fish spokesperson for the Jackson Region.
The department announces positive cases in new hunt areas to keep the public informed, particularly hunters who might want to think about getting harvested animals tested, Akhtar said. Testing helps the department better understand the distribution of the disease.
Game and Fish follows the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation that hunters do not consume the meat of CWD-positive animals. There is no mandatory CWD testing in Hunt Area 156, Akhtar said.
The above story may be used ONLY by members of the Wyoming News Exchange or with the express consent of the newspaper of its origin.
