BISMARCK -- No North Dakota deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to Dr. Dan Grove, a wildlife veterinarian for the state’s Game and Fish Department.
Samples for testing were taken from more than 1,200 deer harvested by hunters in the western third of the state last fall.
Since 2009, seven deer have tested positive for the disease in Unit 3F2, which encompasses all of Sioux County, and parts of eastern Adams County, and southern Grant, Morton and Hettinger counties.
The disease affects a deer’s nervous system and is always fatal. Scientists have found no evidence that it can be transmitted naturally to humans or livestock.
“We’ve had a stretch here the last couple years where we’ve had some positives,” said Jeb Williams, chief of the Game and Fish Wildlife Division. “That’s a good thing we don’t have any positives out there.”
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Williams send it leads Game and Fish biologists to believe that chronic wasting disease isn’t spreading outside of Unit 3F2.
“That’s a good scenario,” he said.
In 2016, deer will be tested from the eastern third of the state, according to a Game and Fish statement.
