Chronic Wasting Disease Reaches Wyoming Range

JACKSON, WY. (AP) — Chronic wasting disease has been found in a western Wyoming mule deer herd prized by hunters.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says the disease was confirmed early this week in a mule deer buck that was shot by a hunter Sept. 16 west of Bondurant in the Wyoming Range.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that although the area where the buck was killed is technically in the Wyoming Range, the herd that uses that portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest is known as the Sublette Herd.

Chronic wasting disease is not entirely foreign to the area, but it is in the early stages of afflicting deer and elk in the Snake River watershed.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological illness that affects deer, elk and moose.

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Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com