Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) continues to spread in Pennsylvania, in both numbers and geographic range, according to just-released data from the Pennsylvania Game Commission. 

Since July 1, 2023, the Commission has detected more than 440 new CWD cases. Nearly 11,000 deer were tested in the current sampling year, including over 7,000 from hunter harvested deer. Of the 440 positives found, 291 were from hunter kills. 

CWD recently was found for the first time in Western Pennsylvania, with the discovery of a roadkill fawn. It is an indication of the disease expanding reach and has prompted implementation of increased surveillance, said wildlife biologist’s Andrea Korman, the Commission’s CWD section supervisor. She also said, “If we find one case, we always assume there are more. Now that we have that detection, we will expand the disease management area and put head pins out there.”

There were 10 CWD DMAP units across the state for 2023-24, for which hunters could purchase up to two additional antlerless tags. as part of a strategy to limit disease exposure to healthy deer.

In addition to the DMAP units, the commission selected three areas last fall as contaminant zones, which are small areas with about a 1-mile radius, the average size of a deer’s home range, around the location of high priority CWD positive deer.

Landowners and hunters within containment zones are offered additional opportunities to harvest deer in an effort to remove deer that may have come into contact with an infected deer during both special regulation and extended hunting seasons. The commission also has worked with landowners on post-season removals.

Korman said the southcentral region has remained a CWD hotspot, with most of the deer that tested positive for CWD in the 2023-24 hunting season coming from disease management area 2. They were concentrated in the established area that includes portions of five counties in Wildlife Management units 4A.

This area has produced nearly 90% of Pennsylvania’s CWD positive tested deer since 2012, data has shown.

Korman also said, “CWD research involving capturing and collating deer is being conducted in Bedford and Fulton Counties to determine how CWD might affect their behavior, movement and survival. In our regular surveillance, we’re seeing a pretty big difference between hunter harvest and roadkill deer. Whenever we get a new detection somewhere, we often find it in a roadkill sample, but if we look at prevalence it tends to be higher in hunter harvest.”

Korman stated, “The study may help to explain whether, for example, CWD positive deer are more prone to being hit by cars. Identifying and understanding these trends and patterns could be helpful in continued management and in determining which samples are best for early detection.”

Korman also stated, “Although progress has been made in disease management, we missed a lot of opportunities early on.”  Referring to the Board of Commissioner’s decision to reduce the number of antlerless tags when they should have increased allocations. The disease was so new and there wasn’t a sense of urgency, playing catch-up now is hard.”

Pennsylvania’s concerns about CWD are mainly because CWD, if not controlled, has the potential to wipe out the entire deer herd in the state.