White-tailed Deer Tests Positive for CWD on Flathead Indian Reservation
If confirmed, the case marks the second detection of chronic wasting disease this year by wildlife officials with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
By Tristan Scott
Wildlife officials with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) on Thursday said a hunter-harvested white-tailed deer has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), marking the second detection this year of a CWD-infected deer on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
According to a press release, CSKT’s wildlife managers received the initial positive test results Nov. 12 from the state laboratory after submitting the suspected sample on Nov. 3. The tribal wildlife program has been sending in samples on a weekly basis and, as a matter of protocol, is awaiting testing results from a second facility to confirm the positive detection.
However, in part due to a confirmed case of CWD in a mule deer in January, CSKT’s wildlife program has activated initial response measures outlined in the Tribes’ CWD Surveillance and Management Plan.
“Our goal is to protect the community and prevent further spreading within our Reservation,” Rich Janssen, head of CSKT’s Natural Resources Division, said. “Tribal hunters need to be testing their harvests.”
There is no known transmission of CWD to humans. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hunters harvesting a deer, elk, or moose from an area where CWD is known to be present have their animal tested for CWD prior to consuming the meat and do not consume the meat if the animal tests positive.
Janssen said the confirmation of CWD on the Flathead Indian Reservation is a red flag for a community whose members consume wild game for both subsistence and for cultural significance, and could have long-range consequences for a wildlife-rich region around Flathead Lake.
The highly contagious neurological disease infects members of the deer family, called ungulates, including elk, moose, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. It is always fatal, and there is no known cure. It was first detected in Montana’s wild herds in 2017.
Since then, the disease has turned up in isolated geographic pockets with increasing frequency, culminating last fall when a white-tailed deer at the Flathead County landfill tested positive, marking the first time CWD has been detected in a wild herd in Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ (FWP) Hunting District 170, which encompasses a large swath of the Flathead Valley. The detection occurred just days before the start of general hunting season and subsequently led to additional detections in local deer populations, prompting FWP officials to take lethal measures to remove all deer from the landfill as a measure to reduce the further spread of the disease.
Detections of the disease have been far more prevalent in hunting districts west of Kalispell, running north along the Cabinet and Purcell mountain ranges to the U.S.-Canada border.
CSKT wildlife officials are enlisting help from the public by requesting that hunters test all harvested white-tailed deer for CWD (as well as mule deer, elk and moose) that are harvested from the CWD Management Zone.
Four big game check stations are available every Thursday through Sunday for hunters to have their animals sampled at no cost. CSKT’s Polson office at 408 Sixth Ave. E. is open Monday through Thursday and can also process samples. Hunters who are comfortable taking samples in the field can pick up sample kits from the check stations.
“Hunters can process the meat while waiting for results, just be sure it is kept separate from all other meat until negative test results are received,” according to the press release from CSKT. “It is also highly recommended not to use any additional parts of an animal (brain, hide, etc.) until it is certain the animal is negative for CWD.”
Wildlife officials said hunters should not dump the carcasses of deer, elk or moose in the woods.
“This disease can spread to new areas on the Reservation if any part of an infected carcass is dumped in the woods. Dispose of all unused parts as normal household trash in a plastic garbage bag,” the release states.
For more information, visit the wildlife management program’s CWD website.