HARRISBURG, Pa. Chronic wasteful disease, or CWD, is one of the greatest wildlife challenges of this century, experts say, and the highly contagious disease threatens one of Pennsylvania’s most prized natural resources.
Now the state gaming commission is asking for the public’s help before it spreads even further.
“A neurological disease that affects members of the cervid family, like deer, moose, moose, things like that,” said Bob Frye, communications coordinator at the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Frye said 539 deer in the state have tested positive for the disease since the agency began tracking it in 2012.86 of those cases are from this year.
“Ultimately, it leads to death in all cases,” said Frye. “Its always [a] fatal illness. There is no cure, no way to even test the animal to see if it has until it dies. “
Experts said the disease develops slowly in the animal’s lymph nodes, spinal cord tissue, and brain.
“In the case of deer, make holes in their brains, which eventually lead to what we call the wasteful part,” explains Frye. The deer are falling off. They drool a lot. They lose their appetite. They become less wary. ‘
Those symptoms are not always obvious to the naked eye. That’s why the games commission asks hunters to deposit the head in a marked container if they harvest a deer in any of the state’s three disease-management areas.
“We’ll test it for you for free and send you the results,” said Frye. “Then you know before you eat your deer whether it was CWD positive or not.”
Frye said there is no evidence that the disease spreads to humans, but it is one affecting the deer population in 24 rural states.
“We are all in this fight together as people who care about wildlife and hunting,” said Frye. “We’re just asking them to keep helping us deliver those samples. Then we can figure out what to do and where to do it.”