The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources yesterday announced the detection of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a deer that died at a captive deer farm in Breckinridge County.
The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) confirmed the case, the state's first in a captive cervid facility, and has issued a quarantine restricting the movement of live deer or deer products to or from the farm.
"Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency's CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection," the news release said. "Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has CWD-tested more than 40,000 deer and elk from across the state."
The state's first CWD case was identified in December 2023 in Ballard County.
Hunters asked to participate in monitoring
Officials urge hunters to help with CWD monitoring by dropping off the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for free testing at self-service sample drop-off sites located throughout the state.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency's CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection.
CWD, a neurologic disease caused by misfolded infectious proteins called prions, affects cervids such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. Prions are extremely resilient and can persist in the environment for years. CWD poses an ongoing threat to cervids, because it can spread from animal to animal and through environmental contamination. The disease isn't known to infect humans, but officials recommend not eating meat from a sick animal and using precautions when field-dressing or butchering cervids.
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