The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Division confirmed the first case of Chronic Wasting Disease in Georgia.
The positive identification came through a routine sample test conducted on the Lanier – Berrien County line in South Georgia after a hunter killed a two-and-a-half-year-old white-tailed deer.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Veterinary Services Lab tested the deer for the disease. The white-tailed deer’s relatives, elk, caribou, moose and reindeer are also susceptible to the disease.
“Our plan is to work together with all the members of the General Assembly, all hunters as well as all Georgians,” Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Walter Rabon said. “Maintaining landowner and hunter support is paramount in managing this disease as we move forward.”
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a neurological disease with an incubation period of 18-30 months when the deer will appear healthy. By the time the misshapen prion protein incubates, the deer will experience drastic weight loss, abnormal erratic behavior, droopy head and ears, and excessive drooling. A prion protein is a naturally occurring protein in the body. In some cases, the prion can misfold which leads to serious symptoms in the infected animal.
The disease spreads through nose-to-nose contact, urine, feces and saliva. CWD persists in the environment. A CWD positive deer carcass can spread the disease into the soil and can contaminate nearby grasses. If other deer sniff the carcass or eat grass in the surrounding area, they have now contracted the disease.
“We don’t see sick wildlife often at all,” Dr. Tina Johannsen, assistant chief of the Wildlife Resources Division, said. “One, they tend to hide when they’re sick and two, they don’t last very long.”
There is no known cure for CWD. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not found the disease affects humans. The CDC recommends those who have harvested a deer that tested positive for CWD to not eat the infected animal.
Hunters in Georgia harvest more than 280,000 deer a year. Since 2002, DNR has conducted random testing on more than 1,800 deer annually to monitor diseases such as CWD.
According to Johannsen, hunting has a $1.6 billion annual economic impact in the state including more than 150,000 jobs and $23 million from licensing to Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration, taxes from firearm sales redirected to state wildlife agencies across the country including Georgia.
The Department of Natural Resources personnel are working with landowners, hunters, processors and taxidermists to get as many deer samples tested as possible. Its goal is to test 5% of the deer population, or five out of 100.
