JOINT RELEASE FROM THE OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD & FORESTRY AND THE OKLAHOMA DEPARTMENT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
OKLAHOMA CITY — An elk from a farmed herd in Lincoln County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry (ODAFF) and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The 2-year-old bull elk died as the result of an injury. The elk was tested through routine surveillance in compliance with the breeding facility’s Certified Herd Plan.
CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects the brains of elk, deer and other cervid species. No vaccine or treatment for the disease exists. Importantly, no health risk to humans or non-cervid livestock has been documented.
ODAFF has quarantined the farmed breeding facility, and the Wildlife Department will be testing wild deer in the area near the facility for the presence of CWD. The adjacent commercial hunting area associated with this facility has been quarantined as well. The State Veterinarian has issued a stop-movement order for any intrastate cervid transport for 30 days in order to assess the situation.
This is the second confirmed case of CWD in Oklahoma. The first case was confirmed in a farmed elk herd in Oklahoma County in 1998. Surveillance testing around that area since then has not revealed any deer with the disease.
The Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation are implementing emergency measures to monitor and protect the state’s wild and farmed cervid herds and will provide information to the public as it becomes available.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION: Dr. Rod Hall, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry (rod.hall@ag.ok.gov); Micah Holmes, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (micah.holmes@odwc.ok.gov)