Oklahoma elk tests positive for chronic wasting disease, state’s first case since 1998
An elk from a farmed herd in Lincoln County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), according to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The 2-year-old bull elk died as the result of an injury. The elk was tested through routine surveillance in compliance with the facility’s Certified Herd Plan, officials said.
This fatal neurological disease impacts the brains of elk, deer and other cervid species. There is currently no vaccine or treatment for the disease.
Officials stressed that there is no known documented health risk to humans or livestock.
ODAFF has quarantined the breeding facility and the ODWC will be testing wild deer in the area near the facility for the presence of the disease. The commercial hunt area adjacent to the area has been quarantined as well. The state veterinarian has issued a stop movement order for all in-state cervid transports for 30 days in order to assess the situation.
This is the second confirmed case of CWD in Oklahoma. The first case was confirmed in a farmed elk herd in Oklahoma County in 1998. Surveillance testing around that area since that time has not revealed any deer with the disease, officials said.
Officials with the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation said they are implementing emergency measures to monitor and protect the state’s wild and farmed cervid herds and provide information to the public as it becomes available.