The Alabama Department of Conservation and Wildlife Resources announced Friday that Chronic Wasting Disease has been detected in a sample collected from a harvested deer in Alabama, a first for that state.

CWD has not been detected in the state of Georgia, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division (WRD).

Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by infectious proteins called prions. Currently, there are no treatments, and the disease always results in the death of the infected animal. There are no preventative vaccines to protect animals that have not been infected. 

How You Can Help Prevent Spread

• Hunters are advised that live importation of all deer species from other states is prohibited and has been since 2005. 
• Georgia hunters that hunt in CWD positive states may only bring home boned out meat, hides, cleaned skull plate with antlers attached, elk ivories, and finished taxidermy mounts. All other carcass parts must be left behind.

CWD positive states and locations are Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming as well as Canadian provinces Alberta, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.

For more information, visit the WRD website at https://georgiawildlife.com/cwd.     ###