Two deer in two Arkansas counties and an elk in southeastern Montana have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), officials announced late last week.
According to THV 11, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) reported one case each in Conway and Stone counties, in the southeast part of the state, the first case for Conway. The cases were identified during the state's alternative firearms hunting season, which closed on October 27.
A hunter harvested the Conway County deer in the Ed Gordon Point Remove Wildlife Management area. The AGFC was monitoring Conway County because it is near Pope and Van Buren counties, both of which have had CWD cases.
The Stone County deer was taken from private land next to the Sylamore Wildlife Management Area. The county was already part of the state's CWD Management Zone because of its proximity to CWD-positive Searcy, Van Buren, and Independence counties.
Arkansas first detected CWD in 2016 and has since tested more than 61,000 deer and elk, identifying 1,769 deer and 56 elk with the fatal prion disease.
Second recent case in Montana elk
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) announced that a bull elk shot on private land in Hunting District 704, north of Custer National Forest, tested positive for CWD in October, per the Daily Montanan.
The agency said CWD is likely only now being found in elk because their larger size dissuades hunters from removing the whole animal from the field for testing.
FWP told the news site that the elk was reported in mid-October as being thin, lethargic, and unafraid of people riding horses and driving vehicles nearby. After it began displaying neurologic signs and could no longer pick up its head, the agency euthanized and sampled it.
The state's fifth case in elk since 2017, the diagnosis was the second in a month, after another infected elk was reported on November 1 in Hunting District 322 in the Ruby Mountains, in the southwest part of the state. It was that area's first detection in elk. The agency said CWD is likely only now being found in elk because their larger size dissuades hunters from removing the whole animal from the field for testing.
