(Lander, WY) – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department recently released information stating a hunter-harvested cow elk tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) this fall. This elk is the first to test positive in Grand Teton National Park and near the National Elk Refuge, where annually thousands of elk congregate and are supplementary fed on winter range.
Discovering CWD in Grand Teton National Park underlines the fact that this is an issue that is not going away. Wyoming has a working plan to track and manage CWD as it spreads throughout the state, and Lander nonprofit Wyoming Wildlife Federation supports the implementation of that plan.
“This just accelerated very hard CWD conversations we knew were coming,” says WWF’s Government Affairs Director Jess Johnson.
With increasing scientific information and public awareness, CWD on the landscape is one of the significant challenges facing Wyoming’s 23 state elk feedgrounds. WWF is active in the elk feedgrounds collaborative process, which the Wyoming Game and Fish Department began earlier this month.
WWF looks forward to helping find solutions around CWD and feedgrounds. WWF supports an open process where stakeholders come to the table with open minds and creative solutions. The important thing is for all parties interested in elk feedgrounds, healthy wildlife populations, and the local economy to get involved in the public process so we can come up with these solutions together.
For hunters who harvest animals susceptible to CWD (elk, deer, and moose), WWF asks you to get involved by having your harvests tested.
Andrea Barbknecht, one of WWF’s staff biologists, says, “no matter where you harvest your game, please send CWD samples to be tested. The data gathered from your participation is crucial to the long-term health of our ungulate populations.”