KELLY, Wyo. — The Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) 2023 Annual Report confirmed the detection of one positive Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) case, a doe mule deer, in the park in 2022.
The 2023 Annual Report compiled information from reference year 2022.
According to Sarah Dewey, GTNP wildlife biologist, the retropharyngeal lymph nodes from a dead mule deer in Kelly were collected for testing at the Wyoming Wildlife Health lab. The deer was placed in a freezer donated to the park by the Grand Teton National Park Foundation specifically for this purpose, pending the positive test results. The deer was then disposed at an approved facility and not returned to the landscape.
CWD is a contagious neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose and causes emaciation, abnormal behavior, loss of bodily functions and death. There is currently no known case in which an animal has survived CWD.
“Since 2018, CWD has been detected in three mule deer (two adult males and one adult female) within the boundaries of the park and an adult female elk harvested during the park’s elk reduction program,” Dewey says. “Through the combined intensive surveillance efforts of [the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the National Elk Refuge] and the park a sufficient number of samples for the Jackson Elk Herd were submitted in 2022 to detect CWD at one percent prevalence with 99 percent confidence. This suggests that CWD prevalence in the Jackson Elk herd remains below one percent.”
CWD can have population level impacts on cervid populations, including deer, elk and moose, when disease prevalence is high, Dewey says. The park tests and holds deer as a mitigation effort to limit spread.
Read more about the 2020 confirmed elk case here.
