Deadly Deer Disease Detected in Spokane County

Photo byWashington State Department of Fish and Wildlife

A deadly deer disease has surfaced in Spokane County, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife reported on Thursday.

The first case of chronic wasting disease was confirmed in a dead female white-tailed deer in the Fairwood area of north Spokane, the WDFW reports.

The disease infects members of the Cervidae ‘deer’ family and is fatal in infected deer. There is no cure for CWD, and can only be confirmed through testing lymph nodes or brain tissue, according to the department.

“With the spread of CWD across the country and recent detections in adjacent states and provinces, WDFW has proactively conducted surveillance in this area since 2021,” noted Eric Gardner, WDFW’s Wildlife Program Director. “We detected this case because of the surveillance program, and we are immediately reviewing our Management Plan and the circumstances of this detection. We will announce additional management actions soon.”

CWD can be spread between deer, elk, and moose and reduce cervid populations through widespread transmission, the WDFW reports.

According to the department, CWD has been documented in wild or captive cervids in 34 states beyond Washington plus four Canadian provinces.

To date, there are no confirmed cases of CWD transmission from wildlife to domestic animals or from cervids to other wild ungulate species, according to the department. There is also no scientific evidence that CWD can be transmitted from cervids to humans, the WDFW reports further, based on research by the National Institutes of Health.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against consuming meat from an animal that has tested positive for CWD, according to the WDFW.

Concerned parties can learn more about how to have harvested animals tested on the WDFW's website.

WDFW staff are preparing to collect tissue samples from deer, elk, and moose within the initial response area, the department reports further.