SPARTA, NY — The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected in a wild deer in Livingston County.
According to the DEC, the positive sample came from an adult female white-tailed deer. The DEC says this is the first case of CWD in a wild deer in New York State since 2005.
The tissue sample was tested and retested at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University, and additional testing is currently underway.
The DEC says all hunters who harvest deer in the towns of Conesus, Groveland, North Dansville, Sparta, Springwater and West Sparta must submit tissue samples from the deer to the DEC for CWD testing.
Hunters can have their deer tested by bringing them to a DEC check station, a cooperating meat processor or taxidermist, or by submitting the head to a head collection bin. You can learn more about deer testing by clicking here.
Brendan Quirion, section chief of the DEC’s big game unit, says it is a deadly disease in deer and other deer species, and a containment zone must be established. The tests will help prevent the spread of CWD, the DEC says.
“Chronic wasting disease is a slow-onset disease. Deer may otherwise appear healthy when they are shot,” Quirion said. “Advanced stages of the disease usually include signs that the deer are extremely thin and neurological, meaning they are, you know, out of their species, drooling, walking in circles, carrying their heads down, but that’s not always what we see with a CWD outbreak.”
The DEC will host a virtual information session on Tuesday, November 17 at 7 p.m. To learn more about CWD and the positive case, click here.
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