The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Wildlife Health Laboratory confirmed on Dec. 16, that an elk in Grand Teton National Park tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The cow elk was harvested by a participant in the park’s elk reduction program and tissue samples were collected as part of the park’s mandatory testing program. This is the first elk to test positive for CWD in northwest Wyoming and in close proximity to elk feedgrounds.
To date, there have been no cases of CWD in humans and no strong evidence for the occurrence of CWD in people. However, experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to humans and suggest that it is important to prevent human exposure. Therefore, the Game and Fish and National Park Service adhere to the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization that hunters not consume any animal that is obviously ill or tests positive for CWD.
Billings Gazette
A cow elk shot in Grand Teton National Park has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.Â
This is the first elk to test positive for CWD in northwest Wyoming that lives in close proximity to winter feedgrounds. It s a sad situation, said Bruce Smith, who worked at the National Elk Refuge near Jackson for 22 years and wrote the book Where Elk Roam: Conservation and Biopolitics of Our National Elk Herd. It was just a matter of when, not if, he said, adding that if there s one infected elk, there are many others that haven t yet been identified.
JACKSON – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Wildlife Health Laboratory confirmed on December 16 that an elk in Grand Teton National Park tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The cow elk was harvested by a participant in the park’s elk reduction program and tissue samples were collected as part of the park’s mandatory testing program. This is the first elk to test positive for CWD in northwest Wyoming and in close proximity to elk feedgrounds.
To date, there have been no cases of CWD in humans and no strong evidence for the occurrence of CWD in people. However, experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to humans and suggest that it is important to prevent human exposure. Therefore, the Game and Fish and National Park Service adhere to the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization that hunters not consume any animal that is obviously ill or tests positive for CWD.