A white-tailed deer located about two miles south of Optima in Texas County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). This is the sixth case of CWD confirmed in an Oklahoma wild deer since the first case in June 2023.
The 3.5-year-old buck was extremely emaciated and had lost all fear of people.
A CWD Response Plan jointly produced with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry provides that a Selective Surveillance Area (SSA) be established in the area where the deer was located. Since this deer was inside an already existing SSA, a minimal expansion of the SSA was put in place.
“We will be working through our response plan, and our ultimate goal is to ensure healthy and well-managed deer with as little impact to either the resource or our constituents as possible,” said Joey McAllister, Wildlife Programs Supervisor with ODWC.
Three other SSAs are in place in Cimarron, McCurtain, and Woodward-Major-Woods counties. The SSAs have rules designed to contain CWD within those areas and to minimize its artificial spread to other areas.
CWD is an always-fatal neurological disease that affects the brains of deer, elk, moose, and other members of the cervid family, creating holes resembling those in sponges. CWD transmission from wild animals to people or to livestock has never been documented.
ODWC staff will continue monitoring for evidence of CWD. Deer and elk hunters can help with detection and mitigation through voluntary testing of their harvested game.
For more information, go to wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/resources/deer/cwd.