Both Idaho and Louisiana have reported chronic wasting disease (CWD) detections in captive cervids, and the detection in Idaho marks the second time the prion disease has been found in captive elk in that state.

Officials from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) confirmed CWD in an elk from a captive facility in Jefferson County. Officials said the new case had no association with the CWD-positive captive bull elk identified in Madison County in December 2024.

The captive facility conducts CWD testing after every cervid death, as part of enhanced screening in place since 2023. According to ISDA, CWD was first detected in wild deer in Idaho in 2021 and the following year in wild elk. Cervids are members of the deer family.

Three more captive Louisiana deer test positive

Late last week, officials with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry said that, after they analyzed records of deer transfers following a positive CWD test in a captive deer in Jefferson Davis Parish in December 2024, three deer at separate deer farms in Tangipahoa, St. Landry, and Concordia parishes have tested positive for the prion disease.

These farms, which also participate in the state deer program, have been issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the facility, including live deer or deer products.

"These farms, which also participate in the state deer program, have been issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the facility, including live deer or deer products," the agency said.

According to the Natchez Democrat, the deer in Concordia Parish is 2-year-old doe. The animal is part of a hunting herd of 60 deer, all now quarantined. 

CWD is an always-fatal prion disease affecting elk, moose, reindeer, and deer. It was first detected in North America in 1967 in a captive mule deer in Colorado. Prions are misfolded proteins that affect the brain and nervous system.

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