BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — New York State’s deer population continues to remain healthy and free of chronic wasting disease.
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation says testing of samples from more than 2,700 deer showed no evidence of the fatal disease in New York.
The testing took place throughout the 2023-24 deer hunting season.
The DEC says CWD, which can be found in deer, elk and moose, is untreatable and a “serious threat to wild populations.” The contagious brain and nervous system disease has spread widely in North America over the past couple of decades, but there’s no evidence of it being able to infect humans.
Still, the DEC says it has a harsh impact on “all the benefits associated with deer and moose … including hunting traditions and the sustainable use of venison.”
When it was first found in New York State in 2005, a million-dollar testing and culling operation was able to stop the outbreak, the DEC said.
In addition to CWD, another fatal disease didn’t show itself in New York’s deer this season, either. The DEC says there were no outbreaks of epizootic hemorrhagic disease in 2023.