6th deer tests positive for disease

A deer taken during the rifle hunt last month has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, bringing to six the total number of cases discovered in Utah over the past year.

The mature buck was taken on the LaSal Mountains east of Moab. This is the third deer found with CWD in the LaSal range.

The first case of CWD was reported in February. The deer was taken during the general rifle hunt the previous October in an area northeast of Vernal. A second infected deer was found in the same area during the archery hunt.

A single deer was also discovered near Fountain Green over the summer.

This fall, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources collected 3,072 samples from harvested deer taken during the archery, muzzleloader and general rifle hunts.

"The first batch of information from sampling we did during the rifle hunt has come in, and this is the only deer that has tested positive for CWD so far," said Leslie McFarlane, wildlife biologist for the DWR. "We expect the rest of the test results back in two to three weeks."

Game officials have notified the hunter of the lab results.

Tests are being done at Utah State University.

CWD is in the same family of diseases as mad-cow disease, which has killed people. It is also in the same group as Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, which is also fatal to humans. And it is similar to scrapie, which has been around for more than 300 years and infects sheep but not humans.

There is no evidence that CWD can be passed to humans.

CWD is not widespread. Even in infected areas it is found in less than 1 percent of elk and 1-15 percent of deer.

The possibility of infection could increases this winter when deer and elk are pushed by cold weather and snow into crowded winter feeding areas.

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