ATLANTA – A deer shot by a hunter in South Georgia has tested positive for Chronic-Wasting Disease (CWD), the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported Thursday.
The two-and-a-half-year-old male white-tailed deer, shot on private property in Lanier County, is the first case of CWD detected in Georgia.
Chronic-Wasting Disease is a fatal neurological disease that occurs in deer, elk, and moose caused by infectious proteins called prions. While there are no current treatments or preventative vaccines, there has been no known transmission of the disease to humans.
“I want to assure our hunters that deer hunting will continue to thrive in Georgia, despite this current discovery,” DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon said Thursday. “Working together with our hunters and all Georgians, we will manage CWD and maintain healthy deer herds.”
The DNR has put a response plan into effect establishing a CWD Management Area, which includes Lanier County as well as Berrien County, which is within a 5-mile radius of where the diseased deer was found.
The agency also is working to determine how far the disease has spread and what percentage of deer in the area have CWD. That is being accomplished by working with landowners through “cluster sampling” in the immediate area.
While CWD doesn’t appear to be a threat to humans, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hunters harvesting a deer, elk, or moose from an area where the disease is known to be present have their animal tested for CWD before consuming the meat.