© 2024 Boise State Public Radio
NPR in Idaho
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Apple's latest iOS (17.4) is preventing our livestreams from playing. We suggest you download the free Boise State Public Radio app & stream us there while we work to troubleshoot the issue.
A regional collaboration of public media stations that serve the Rocky Mountain States of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Colorado continues to partner with hunters in an effort to contain chronic wasting disease

A map from Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Results from the testing program, which began in 2017, show that infection rates among adult bucks is greater than 20% in about two dozen game management units across northern Colorado. It's far less prevalent in Colorado's elk herds.

As Colorado's big game rifle season approaches, state wildlife officials are ramping up monitoring of chronic wasting disease, which continues to spread in deer and elk populations around the state.

The deadly neurological disease has now reached a majority of Colorado's 54 deer herds and the state i s monitoring every one of them. In some parts of north and northeastern Colorado, one in every three deer have contracted the disease, according to Matthew Eckert, Colorado Parks and Wildlife's terrestrial programs supervisor.

The agency i s continuing its mandatory testing program this year – a critical monitoring tool that requires hunters to submit the heads of deer harvested from certain hunting units.

“This is a cooperative approach," Eckert said. "We don't know how to manage this disease yet anywhere in the world. Colorado is at the forefront and is best situated with the way our hunting structure is set up to identify the most effective approach for managing this disease.”

Results from the testing program, which began in 2017, show that infection rates among adult bucks is greater than 20% in about two dozen game management units across northern Colorado. It's far less prevalent in Colorado's elk herds.

“Once we get to high prevalence – like 30% or 50% – we're going to be losing a significant proportion of our herds,” Eckert said. “And at that point, some herds may not be able to sustain themselves. We want hunters to bring in their heads because it's contributing to science and our understanding of this disease over time.”

Chronic wasting disease is a prion disease, which means a protein becomes malformed in the body and kills nerve tissue. It infects deer for two years, and it can go undetected to the naked eye until the last few weeks of an animal's life. Some symptoms include drooling, standing still, drooping ears and head, and acting confused.

 The epidemic among deer, elk and moose has spread around the Mountain West since it was first identified in wild populations in Wyoming in the '80s. It reached wild herds in Montana in 2017, and it was detected for the first time in Idaho last year.
Bryan Richards
/
USGS National Wildlife Health Center
The epidemic among deer, elk and moose has spread around the Mountain West since it was first identified in wild populations in Wyoming in the '80s. It reached wild herds in Montana in 2017, and it was detected for the first time in Idaho last year.

The epidemic among deer, elk and moose has spread around the Mountain West since it was first identified in wild populations in Wyoming in the '80s. It reached wild herds in Montana in 2017, and it was detected for the first time in Idaho last year.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Copyright 2022 KUNC. To see more, visit KUNC.

Emma VandenEinde

You make stories like this possible.

The biggest portion of Boise State Public Radio's funding comes from readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

Your donation today helps make our local reporting free for our entire community.