Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease affecting mule deer, white-tailed deer, moose and elk. The disease is infectious between and among deer, elk, and moose. Once CWD reaches an area, it remains persistent in soil, plants, and water, and will continue to infect wildlife for years, perhaps decades, into the future.
The above map created by Wyominig Wildlife Advocates and the Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter, based on information from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) and other sources, tracks the progression of the disease over the last 15 years, and indicates that CWD is spreading at an alarming rate. In 2015 and early 2016 alone, the area where CWD has been found in deer or elk expanded approximately 4 million acres - over double the average increase of previous years - and CWD has now been found in 21 of 23 Wyoming counties. In 2015, an infected deer was found 9.3 miles from the the southeast corner of Yellowstone Park, and another infected deer was found 12.2 miles from one of Wyoming's elk feedgrounds - a day's walk for a deer.
As the disease moves north and westward across Wyoming, the infection will approach critically important national parks and wildlife habitat upon which the $3.4 billion dollar Wyoming tourism industry is based. People from all over the world visit Wyoming to see wild, and healthy wildlife. If CWD runs unchecked through our famous wildlife herds and parks, our expanding tourism economy will take a big hit.
Our greatest fear is that CWD will reach any one of Wyoming's 22 elk feedgrounds or the National Elk Refuge where elk are densely packed together for the winter months. Here, CWD could spread rapidly with potentially devastating results. CWD on elk feedgrounds could reach many times the prevalence in wild herds.
To avoid the spread and deadly impact of this disease, the Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter and Wyoming Wildlife Advocates supports phasing-out of elk feedgrounds, and conservation of robust predator populations. The State of Wyoming should not allow any artificial feeding of deer or elk under any circumstances. Wildlife should be spread-out and managed for health, not for maximum numbers. Thinning out dense concentrations of elk and deer will help ensure healthy wildlife and our state's economic future.
Press Release on Legal Challenge to Alkali Creek Feedground
Feeding wildlife: A recipe for disaster - article by Walter Cook, Scott Smith and Jim Logan
CWD in Wyoming Map Press Release
Map of Wyoming's Deer Hunting Areas
State Vet: Combat CWD by Reducing Elk Feeding
Wyoming Game and Fish Department finds CWD in new deer hunt area near Lander
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