Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer

Captured deer being prepared for testing for CWD
NPS photo via Wikimedia

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a progressive and fatal neurologic disease affecting members of the Cervid  family such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. It is caused by an infectious protein called a prion. The disease results in emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and eventually wears down and kills every infected animal.

It is readily spread from deer to deer and poses a serious threat to New Jersey’s deer herds. CWD has so far been found in captive and wild deer in 26 states, 4 Canadian provinces, Norway, Finland, and South Korea. The closest known occurrence to New Jersey has been in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Preventing CWD from entering New Jersey is the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s primary focus, and the Division aggressively monitors and tests for CWD in New Jersey’s deer herd.

Recent claims in the media have said that Spiroplasma bacteria are the causative agents of diseases like CWD, but those studies have never been reproduced despite extremely rigorous attempts to do so.  Years of research throughout the country have provided abundant evidence that prions are the infectious agent of CWD, and this hypothesis is accepted by state agriculture and wildlife agencies across the United States.

Additionally, overly sensationalized media stories have called CWD-infected deer “Zombie Deer” and claimed that human infection is inevitable and will be widespread.  These claims are not supported by decades of research on Chronic Wasting Disease and no cases of human disease have been linked to CWD in deer.

Surveys of New Jersey deer harvested in several deer seasons have found no evidence of the disease. Based on those surveys, the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife is confident that if CWD was present in our state it was in less than 1% of the adult deer at that time. It would, of course, be impossible to test all of the animals in the state to say a disease is not present at all.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife is committed to providing the most up to date information regarding Chronic Wasting Disease and the health of NJ wildlife. The links below provide further information.

https://www.njfishandwildlife.com/cwdinfo.htm   Chronic Wasting Disease: Know the Carcass Transport Rules (Overview of rules of each state from the National Deer Alliance YouTube Channel) Guidance to NJ Residents Who Hunt Deer, Elk or Moose in States Where CWD is Present Urine-Based Deer Lures Advisory Since there is concern among hunters and others about the disease spreading to New Jersey, a "Questions and Answers" document about CWD was created by the Division's Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics and is regularly updated. Links to information about the disease and the surveys are below. Chronic Wasting Disease FAQs (pdf, 160kb) Updated February, 2019 Chronic Wasting Disease Survey Information, 1997-2018 (pdf, 330kb) Updated February, 2019 Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan 2013 (pdf, 223kb) Notice Regarding Possession/Importation of Live Cervids (pdf, 220kb) Updated December, 2018 Chronic Wasting Disease Functional Prion Genotype Survey, 2006 (pdf, 260kb) Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance's website.