CWD Discovered in Ohio

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posted on December 21, 2020
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Biologists have long said Ohio's first case of CWD in the whitetail herd is only a matter of time. It appears that time is now here.

The Ohio DNR (ODNR) Division of Wildlife has identified a positive test for CWD in a wild whitetail deer in Wyandot County. The Division of Wildlife is gathering additional details about the adult male deer taken by a hunter on private property. Tissue samples were submitted for testing by a taxidermist and the positive test was identified after results were obtained on Dec. 10.

The Division of Wildlife will implement its CWD response plan, which includes enhanced surveillance within a 10-mile radius of the CWD positive deer location in Wyandot County. Mandatory deer disease sample collection will occur on all remaining Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area controlled hunts. Hunters who harvest a deer in Wyandot County during the remaining deer hunting season, which closes on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021, will be contacted to obtain disease samples by Division of Wildlife staff.

The Division of Wildlife has conducted routine surveillance for CWD since 2002, testing more than 25,000 deer without finding a CWD positive deer in the wild herd. CWD has previously been detected at captive deer breeding facilities in Ohio. Find more information about Ohio’s CWD surveillance at wildohio.gov.

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