LANDER - Among deer killed by hunters and Wyoming Game and Fish Department agents, seven animals have tested positive for chronic wasting disease in three hunting areas around Thermopolis and on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

There are two positive cases each for hunting areas 127 (between Thermopolis and Worland), area 120 (between Thermopolis and Wind River Canyon) and area 37 (across the river from area 120), according to Gary Brown, regional wildlife supervisor for the Game and Fish Department. The Wind River reservation still has only one confirmed case.

"This is a hot spot," said Meredith Taylor of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, "and is a huge concern for free-ranging wildlife in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem."

All told, Brown said, Game and Fish staffers have killed 50 deer in area 127 for testing, with no new cases. A total of 28 deer were taken for testing in area 37, which generated two positive cases. The reservation has taken 17 deer for testing, and all tested negative, said Shoshone and Arapaho Fish and Game Director Larry Makeshine.

According to Brown, the department will collect an additional 22 deer south of Thermopolis in hunt area 120 beginning Dec. 1. He said he waited until the hunting season was over before taking the additional 22 samples.

Those samples will be collected by agency personnel to provide an idea of the prevalence of the disease in the area. According to Brown, there are no plans to collect additional deer in hunt area 37.

"Our protocol says we may take 50 deer - not that we have to. I didn't feel that taking more deer in hunt area 37 would tell us more than we know now," Brown said.

When test results come back negative, the meat is donated to needy families, Brown said. When tests come back positive, the carcasses are sent to the Thermopolis landfill for burial.

Brown added that his office has fielded several telephone calls regarding the "scruffy" appearance of some deer within the city limits of Thermopolis, with some callers suspecting chronic wasting disease.

"While it is possible a few deer in Thermopolis may have CWD, it is more likely that the scruffy look is the result of the private feeding of deer," Brown said.

Game and Fish is reviewing the comments submitted on its draft chronic wasting disease management plan. One objective identified in the plan to help manage the disease is to assist in preventing the transmission between animals by discouraging the private feeding of deer. Chronic wasting disease may be transmitted between animals when they are concentrated.

"Based on our experience with captive deer, there is evidence that CWD is more efficiently transmitted when animals are concentrated," Brown said.

Lloyd Dorsey, Wyoming representative for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said he finds it "highly incongruous" that Wyoming Game and Fish would raise this concern about private feeding of wildlife when the department feeds elk on feedgrounds.

The growth of chronic wasting cases in the Thermopolis area, Dorsey said, is "a wake-up call" for the department, as well as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which host those feedgrounds.

Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of deer and elk. Although there are concerns among some people that it could be a livestock or human health threat, there is currently no evidence of a link between chronic wasting and any human illness or livestock disease.

Over the past three years, more than 1,800 samples have been tested from the Big Horn Basin, resulting in nine confirmed positives - seven this fall.

Want to learn more?

For more information about chronic wasting disease, visit the Wyoming Game and Fish Department Web site at http://gf.state.wy.us.