2018 Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Report available online

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently completed the 2018 Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Report.

The report is available on the FWP website at http://www.fwp.mt.gov/.

During the 2018 season, FWP collected a total of 1,922 samples from mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose. FWP detected 26 new cases of CWD among wild deer, including 21 cases along the northern border in every county from Liberty County east to the North Dakota border, and five cases within the CWD-positive area south of Billings.

Prevalence of CWD in the northern CWD-positive hunting districts (HDs 400, 401, 600, 611, 670, and 640) averaged 2 percent in mule deer, and 1 percent in white-tailed deer. Among these hunting districts, prevalence varied from 2 to 4 percent among mule deer and 0 to 4 percent among white-tailed deer.

South of Billings, CWD prevalence was estimated to be 2 percent in mule deer and 1 percent in white-tailed deer. Prevalence varied across hunting districts ranging from less than 1 percent to 6 percent in mule deer and 0 to 1 percent among white-tailed deer

FWP has been conducting surveillance for CWD since 1998, and first detected the fatal disease in wild deer in 2017.

For more information about CWD, including the complete 2018 surveillance report, visit http://www.fwp.mt.gov and click on CWD.