With Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) cases continuing to show up in bordering states in recent years, North Carolina officials knew it was just a matter of time before the disease surfaced at home. In March of 2022, it finally happened.
At the end of March, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) announced that a sample collected from a hunter-harvested, white-tailed deer in Yadkin County had tested positive for CWD. It was the first case for the North Carolina deer herd.
According to the WRC report, the deer was harvested in northern Yadkin County in December 2021. The sample was sent in by a taxidermist through a program established by the Wildlife Commission. Wildlife Commission staff ramped up testing this past season and collected over 7,200 samples from cooperators and hunters due to the discovery of a CWD-positive deer 33 miles away from the North Carolina border last year in Montgomery County, Virginia.
“We are appreciative of all the cooperating taxidermists, meat processors and hunters that have helped us with our CWD surveillance,” said Brad Howard, chief of Wildlife Commission’s Wildlife Management Division. “Their diligence helped us to detect the presence of CWD now, which is much better than if the disease had gone undetected. Now that we know the disease is in North Carolina, we will implement our CWD Response Plan to help slow the spread of CWD while preserving our deer herd and deer hunting tradition.”
What is the CWD Response Plan?
- Establishment of Surveillance Areas:
- Primary Surveillance Area (PSA): Surry County East of US 601, South of NC. 268 and West of Quaker Church Road and the Ararat River; and Yadkin County East of US 601, North of NC. 67, West of Shoals Road to the intersection with Shady Grove Church Road and West of Fairground Road.
- Secondary Surveillance Area (SSA): Surry County, Yadkin County, Davie County, Forsyth County, Stokes County, Alleghany County East of US 21 and NC 18, Wilkes County East of NC 18 and NC. 115, and Iredell County East of NC. 115 and North of Interstate 40.
- Suspension and prohibition of rehabilitation of white-tailed deer fawns within and from the Surveillance Areas.
- Prohibition of transportation of white-tailed deer, dead or alive, out of the Surveillance Areas except for carcass parts that conform to 15A NCAC 10B .0124, or as otherwise permitted by the Wildlife Commission.
- Prohibition of the disposal of white-tailed deer carcasses taken or found inside of the Surveillance Areas outside of the Surveillance Areas, unless permitted by the Wildlife Commission.
- Prohibition of placement of bait, food, food products, mineral or salt licks to purposefully congregate wildlife from Jan. 2 – Aug. 31 inside of the Surveillance Areas, except for bird feeders, hunting during the urban archery season in participating municipalities and other activities specifically permitted by the Wildlife Commission.
- Requirement of mandatory CWD Testing:
- Mandatory testing of all white-tailed deer taken in the PSA during the blackpowder and all lawful weapons deer hunting seasons.
- Mandatory testing of all white-tailed deer taken in the SSA during the blackpowder season.
The good news is, no additional positive CWD detections have been found from the 2021-2022 deer harvest, since the single deer that initially tested positive in Yadkin County back in March.
As mentioned above, wildlife biologists collected over 7,200 deer samples across the state from hunters, meat processors, taxidermists, road kills and sick deer. The samples were sent to the Wisconsin Veterinarian Diagnostic Lab, a USDA approved laboratory for testing.
“We are currently at a 98% return,” said Brad Howard, wildlife management division chief with the Wildlife Commission. “We are still collecting samples from roadkill, depredation harvest and late submissions, but we feel confident enough with these results to move forward and focus our CWD response plan efforts in Yadkin County and the surrounding areas.”
Be sure to check back for updates on how things progress in the state of North Carolina when it comes to the spread of CWD.
