With the 2023 chronic wasting disease surveillance season completed, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department reported 11 deer tested positive.

“The good news is that all these cases came from units where CWD has already been detected. None came from the southeastern part of the state where we were focusing our surveillance efforts,” said Dr. Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian. “However, CWD was detected right across our border in eastern Manitoba near Winkler, and again near Climax, Minnesota, where it was first found in 2021.”

Positive cases detected in 2023 came from units 3A1, 3A2, 3E1, 3E2 and 3F2.

Wildlife division chief Casey Anderson said that despite lower harvest success, the department met its surveillance goal in units 2B, 2G and 2G1. The objective is to achieve a sampling goal of 10% of the allocated deer gun licenses for a given year.

Game and Fish will use its 2023 surveillance data to guide CWD management moving forward.

CWD is a fatal disease of deer, moose and elk that remains on the landscape and can cause long-term population impacts as infection rates climb.