MT records first suspected case of CWD in wild elk

Courtesy MT FWP

BILLINGS – Montana recorded its first suspected case of chronic wasting disease in wild elk Monday. The cow elk was harvested by a landowner on private land northeast of Red Lodge earlier this month and samples were extracted from the carcass in Billings Nov. 6. Tests results confirming the suspected presence of the disease were returned to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the hunter on Monday.

CWD was found in a herd of captive game-farm elk near Philipsburg in 1999 and the herd was depopulated. Until this week, however, the disease had not been found in wild elk in Montana.

In addition to the elk, Monday’s test results confirmed the presence of CWD in three more deer in south central Montana. They included a mule deer harvested on national forest land near Crooked Creek in the Pryor Mountains, a white-tailed deer northwest of Worden, and a white-tailed deer on private land northeast of Silesia.

Tissue samples from the suspected CWD-positive animals will undergo additional testing for confirmation. Hunters who harvested the animals have been informed of the test results.

CWD first was confirmed in the wild in Montana in a mule deer in Carbon County in 2017 as a result of scheduled searches on harvested game. Earlier this month, tests showed that a moose in northwest Montana was suspected to have CWD. All other cases since the disease was discovered in Montana in 2017 have been in white-tailed deer and mule deer.