A hunter-harvested mule deer from Cimarron County in Oklahoma’s Panhandle has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) has activated the CWD Response Plan jointly produced with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.
This latest CWD-positive deer was harvested about 3.5 miles west of Felt, near the location where a CWD-positive deer was confirmed last year.
“The CWD Response Plan dictates that we respond to this finding by establishing a Selective Surveillance Area” said Joey McAllister, Wildlife Programs Supervisor with ODWC.
Since this latest infected animal was taken so close to the previous one, the current SSA in Cimarron County will remain unchanged; no new area will be added.
“We will be working through our response plan, and our ultimate goal is to ensure healthy and well-managed deer with as little impact to either the resource or our constituents as possible,” McAllister said.
CWD is an always-fatal neurological disease that affects the brains of deer, elk, moose, and other members of the cervid family, creating holes resembling those in sponges. CWD transmission from wild animals to people or to livestock has never been documented. Oklahoma's first case of a wild deer infected with CWD was confirmed in June 2023 in Texas County in Oklahoma’s Panhandle.
The Wildlife Department has conducted CWD monitoring on hunter-harvested deer and elk, and road-killed deer, since 1999.
ODWC staff will continue monitoring for evidence of CWD within Oklahoma’s borders and will release additional information, including ways deer and elk hunters can help with detection and mitigation. Additional guidelines or management plans will be distributed and well-advertised if determined necessary to further protect Oklahoma’s deer and elk populations.
For more information on the disease, hunting regulations, and proper disposal of infected animals, go to https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/resources/deer/cwd. Additional human health information relating to CWD is available at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nwhc/publications.
