1. CWD domestic cervidae regulatory detail

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture received confirmation of Chronic Wasting Disease following testing of a domestic cow elk that died in a captive facility in Jefferson County.

The case is the second identified in a captive elk in the state.

The case has no association with the CWD-positive captive bull elk identified in Madison County in December, according to a department news release. Domestic elk facility operators must submit all inventory and disease surveillance data at the end of each calendar year, which correlates with the close timing of the two cases.

In the new case in Jefferson County, the infected animal was on a captive elk ranch that had been under enhanced surveillance protocols since 2023, when it imported shipments of domestic elk from a captive facility that was within 25 miles of a confirmed case in wild elk. The enhanced protocols require testing of all on-facility deaths of elk or deer.

The facility had been in compliance with testing requirements, according to ISDA. Following the detection, the department issued a quarantine of all remaining elk on the facility. All remaining elk that arrived in the 2023 shipment are alive and will remain under quarantine.

Department officials notified Idaho Fish and Game and will work with the facility operator pursuant to the state’s restrictions, according to the release.

ISDA regulates all captive elk and deer farms. Regulations pertain to record keeping, disease testing, movement and permit requirements.

In the ongoing investigation in Jefferson County, “our concern is how to manage the rest of the stock on the facility,” state veterinarian Scott Leibsle of ISDA said in an interview. “Part of that is going to be what the owner has in mind and what the operations are.”

A herd management plan to prevent disease spread in domestic elk and protect wild animals will be developed.

Operators grow their herds over a period of years to suit market segments such as meat or trophy hunting. Ideally, a management plan “doesn’t increase the risk, but also does not damage business opportunities,” Leibsle said.

“Trying to find sources of stock has become more difficult,” he said. ISDA must approve and validate facilities that send animals to Idaho captive facilities.

Shipments to the captive elk facilities in Jefferson and Madison counties were legal, Leibsle said.

Chronic Wasting Disease was first detected in wild deer in Idaho in 2021 and in wild elk in 2022. The rare contagious disease — for which is there are no reliable diagnostic tests, vaccines or treatments — affects the brains for mule deer, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer, elk, moose and reindeer.

It belongs to a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which have no known cure and are always fatal in susceptible host species, according to ISDA.

No CWD infections have been reported in people. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends that people do not eat meat of infected animals.