JACKSON, Wyo. — Earlier this week, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) announced the detection of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a female elk on the National Elk Refuge (NER) for the first time.
CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects four animal species that occupy the NER: elk, moose, mule deer and white-tailed deer. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) spokesperson told Buckrail that an elk in Grand Teton National Park tested positive for CWD in 2020, and the NER responded by stepping up monitoring during all field operations.
At this time of year, most elk are leaving the refuge for the summer. The NER plans to continue surveillance of at-risk species that remain within refuge boundaries over the summer and throughout the year. The agency euthanizes and tests animals suspected of having the illness, and coordinates public outreach with federal, state and local partners. According to FWS, observable symptoms of CWD include extreme thinness, decreased social interaction, loss of awareness and altered posture. Sampling for CWD is mandatory for all elk hunted on the refuge.
“Despite the recent detection of CWD in an adult, female elk on the National Elk Refuge, no elk harvested in the Jackson elk herd by hunters has tested positive for CWD since 2020,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Buckrail. “This suggests that CWD prevalence is currently very low in the Jackson elk herd.”
In February, WGFD conducted an annual midwinter count of elk populations and found 10,029 elk in the Jackson elk herd on the NER and in surrounding areas. FWS says that a population of 11,000 elk is the herd objective, and the three-year average of 9,721 is within the objective range.
Supplemental winter feeding on the refuge has been a contentious topic over the years, and FWS has been drafting updates to the 2007 Bison and Elk Management Plan and the 2019 Step-down Plan to ensure long-term sustainability of the local herds. The Step-down Plan is a structured framework that attempts to reduce elk reliance on supplemental feeding. The document states that the primary objectives of elk feeding are to minimize both elk winter mortality and “comingling of elk with cattle on nearby adjacent private lands.”
“The presence of CWD on the refuge and in the greater Jackson area, as well as supplemental feeding on the refuge, are being considered as part of the long-term management strategy for elk and bison on the refuge,” said the spokesperson. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working closely with the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and others throughout this planning process as the Jackson elk and bison herds migrate across several jurisdictional boundaries.”
In 2022, the NER published its CWD Response Strategy, which calls for increased monitoring and implementation of additional bio-security protocols to keep people and wildlife safe. The Response Strategy states that one of the practical ways to manage CWD in free-range populations is to curtail dependence on supplemental feeding by cutting the length of the feeding season and spreading out the feed spatially. This past winter was one of only 11 seasons since 1912 that elk on the refuge did not receive supplemental feed.
The document lists other responses to discovering CWD on the refuge, such as determining whether changes to visitor access are needed. This includes ensuring that all horses used on the NER have their hooves cleaned prior to being loaded on a trailer. Agencies will also likely review current practices of collecting and selling antlers, with special considerations for antler material entering medicinal or food products.
