No CWD Found In Arizona Deer And Elk Testing

From The Outdoor Wire

PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Department reports lab tests found no detection of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in any of the 2,343 testable samples from hunter-harvested or road-killed deer and elk during Arizona’s 2008-09 hunting season.

The department has tested approximately 12,500 deer and elk samples since beginning its surveillance program in 1998. None have tested positive for the disease. Although CWD has not yet been found in Arizona, it is present in three neighboring states: Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

“We nearly doubled our surveillance and collection of samples in areas of concern where neighboring states have detected CWD, which makes announcing another season with no detection in Arizona very encouraging,” said Clint Luedtke, interim wildlife health specialist for the department. “However, we are going to continue to focus heavily in areas that border Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico during the 2009-10 season.”

Another improvement to the surveillance effort this year includes a professional cooperation with the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife. The samples they collected were also included for testing. All of those samples came back negative. (Read More…)

For more information on CWD, visit the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Web site at www.azgfd.gov/cwd; the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance Web site at www.cwd-info.org; or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at www.cdc.gov (use the search feature for chronic wasting disease).

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