The second shotgun deer season is underway and the Iowa DNR’s testing effort for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is also ongoing. DNR wildlife biologist Willie Suchy says the disease monitoring involves taking tissue samples. “So, if our hunters encounter some DNR people who are trying to collect samples, we encourage you to cooperate. We are trying to do a good job of surveillance,” Suchy says.
The DNR has tested some 47,000 deer since 2002. “So far we haven’t detected any CWD in wild animals,” Suchy says. The only cases of CWD discovered in Iowa have been in captive deer in Wapello, Davis, Pottawattamie and Cerro Gordo counties. Suchy says they are keeping an eye on the deer in that area. Suchy says all the tests in those areas so far have been negative. The other testing effort concentrates on portions of northeast Iowa near Wisconsin and Illinois.
CWD has been found in Wisconsin and Illinois. The Iowa DNR’s website provides information about CWD and other information on infectious disease at: www.iowadnr.gov.