WDFW Reports 4 More CWD Cases in Hunter-harvested Northeast Washington Deer

Four more hunter-harvested whitetail bucks tested positive for chronic wasting disease, Washington wildlife managers report this morning, bringing the number of known cases in the state to six.

Three of the deer were taken within 5 miles of the previous two cases in Game Management Unit 124, Mount Spokane, while the third was killed in southern Pend Oreille County near Davis Lake, west of Newport, in GMU 117, 49 Degrees North, marking an expansion of where the disease is found in Washington.

Of those two prior cases, CWD was first confirmed in a whitetail doe found dead in the Fairwood neighborhood north of Spokane in February and tested in July and then in a whitetail buck killed nearby by a rifle hunter in October.

Samples from the four latest animals were collected by WDFW staffers last month and sent to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at WSU in Pullman and results came back in mid-December.

With more lymph nodes from late bow and muzzleloader seasons awaiting test results at the lab, it’s possible more confirmed cases will turn up in this first year and season that CWD is truly rearing its ugly head in Washington.

“As general season hunts just concluded in Region 1 on December 15, there are still several samples awaiting testing at the lab from the areas where these recent cases were confirmed,” said Donny Martorello, chief of WDFW’s Wildlife Science Division, in an agency press release. “So, there is the potential that we could find additional positive cases.”  

CWD is caused by a malformed prion that causes neurological problems that always lead to death of an infected animal. It can be passed to other deer through contact with bodily fluids such as snot, saliva, blood, pee and poop, or through the dumping of infected carcasses or parts.

In reaction to the discovery of CWD in Idaho between Lewiston and Riggins in 2021, WDFW stepped up monitoring for the disease across the eastern third of the state. And with this past summer’s confirmation of CWD north of Spokane, the agency instituted new mandatory testing rules for deer, elk and moose harvested in GMUs 124, 127 (Mica Peak) and 130 (Cheney), as well as new carcass transportation rules for ungulates taken in 100-series units, among other measures.

When asked if WDFW would now include GMU 117 in the mandatory testing zone for hunter-harvested and roadkill-salvaged animals, WDFW spokeswoman Staci Lehman says the CWD team will meet at the start of 2025 to discuss next steps.

“Our plan is to add GMU 117 and potentially other GMUs. We are still working out those details and options for rule-making. In the meantime, we currently have rules in place that prevent moving potentially infected carcasses and we have been asking for voluntary submission from these areas since 2021,” she said.

The idea behind all the sampling and testing is to detect CWD outbreaks early to help contain or at least slow the disease from spreading further into Washington, and sportsmen are a key part of that effort. Per Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, should enough deer become infected, population declines are likely, with Wyoming seeing 21 percent annual declines in heavily infected mule deer herds, 10 percent in whitetails.

The disease adds yet another threat to a list that for deer includes habitat loss due to development and broken migratory corridors, climate and weather impacts on forage quality, dieoffs from bluetongue and other maladies, the addition of new predators in the form of wolves and how that affects carnivore dynamics, among others.

And it also represents another growing front when it comes to wildlife diseases impacting Washington critters, joining TAHD in elk and highly pathogenic avian influenza not only in wild birds, but striped skunks, a bobcat, harbor seals, racoons and, now, at least two cougars in Clallam County.

The standing advice is to not eat the meat of a CWD-infected animal and to take precautions while processing any that you kill.

For more on the disease, Washington collection stations, how to submit samples, other CWD rules, and more, see this WDFW page.