Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance in Oklahoma

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a progressive, fatal, degenerative neurological disease that affects deer, elk, and moose. First recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in Colorado, CWD now affects free-ranging cervids in at least 15 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Research suggests that transmission may occur via several routes, with environmental contamination likely playing a significant role. In 1998, a captive elk herd in central Oklahoma was diagnosed with CWD. Infected animals in this herd originated in Montana, and although the herd was depopulated in September 2002, there remains the concern for possible exposure of native wild deer populations. Since that time numerous captive cervid facilities have developed in Oklahoma. Additionally, CWD has been located in free-ranging animals in multiple states including Texas, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Missouri. From 1997 to 2012, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) Veterinary Services, and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture took a proactive approach to protect Oklahoma¿s deer and elk resource. This approach helped to reassure hunters, the general public, deer processors, taxidermists, rendering companies, and the state¿s trading partners that Oklahoma¿s wild deer population is free of CWD and to reduce the potential threat to human health concerns. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) funding supplied to ODWC is to conduct surveillance for CWD in Oklahoma and at the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge (WMNWR). Funding received during the first year of this project will focus on CWD surveillance in southwest Oklahoma, which includes the WMNWR. Surveillance will shift to other regions of Oklahoma in subsequent years if funding is available. Funding for this project was received through the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System Wildlife Health Office. As such, eligible entities for this funding are USFWS divisions and programs or State wildlife management agencies that form partnerships with one or more USFWS National Wildlife Refuges. Hence, ODWC is one such entity and responsible for the management of white-tailed deer and elk populations in Oklahoma. WMNWR and ODWC formed such a partnership in order to jointly utilize this funding and conduct CWD surveillance in Oklahoma and on the WMNWR. Depending upon funding allocations, this project could be funded for up to 5 years.