Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is found in wild and captive cervid populations throughout the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain States, along with Wisconsin and two Canadian provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. CWD has affected populations of elk, mule deer, and/or whitetail deer in these areas. It is a fatal disease belonging to the family of Transmissable Spongiform Encephalitis (TSE), which also includes Mad Cow Disease (cattle), Sc

Herring, H. (2002, November). Dead Deer Walking. Field & Stream, pp. 106-119.

Relatively unrestricted elk and deer trade existed until 1997 when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) began testing captive elk populations for CWD, subsequently quarantining infected populations. The USDA would wait until 2001 to implement eradication efforts of all captive deer and elk populations, allowing the opportunity for illicit trade of infected populations to ensue. Until this time, the documentation of captive herds traded from state to state was grossly unregulated, inhibiting the attempts of wildlife officials to track the movements of infected herds (USDA Actions on Chronic Wasting Disease, May 2002). This situation eventually compelled many states to institute virtual bans on the importation of all deer and elk, regardless of their origins. Korea and Canada also instituted bans on the importing of all cervids from the U.S. This has been an important measure in confining the infected herds to their present locations. However, it seems that this is too little too late. The spread of CWD has already infected wild cervid populations in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Illinois, and Saskatchewan (Chronic Wasting Disease, 2/19/2003).

The most significant measure in the Wisconsin’s fight against CWD occurred when the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources began issuing hunting permits for specified hunts within the endemic area, a region encompassing 389 square miles containing an estimated 25,000 deer. These hunts were conducted for one week out of every month, from June through September 2002. Extended hunts were also combined with the fall deer season in an effort to eradicate every single deer within the endemic area. This is considered a necessary, though gruesome, task by Wisconsin wildlife officials due to the relatively high-density of deer populations throughout the state (Herring, Nov. 2002).

Comments: Official Declaration of Emergency by the Secretary of Agriculture. Resulted

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