The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is enacting its Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Response plan after 10 white-tailed deer in West Tennessee tested positive for CWD.
CWD is a contagious and deadly neurological disorder that affects members of the deer family. The TWRA said CWD isn’t known to make humans or livestock sick.
The disease is spread when animals come in contact with each other, come in contact with an environment that is contaminated or come in contact with contaminated feed and water sources.
CWD is the most significant threat to deer across the county. Any deer or elk that gets the disease will die because it is 100 percent fatal, the TWRA explained.
Seven deer in Fayette County and three deer in Hardeman County preliminarily tested positive for CWD.
The TWRA is working to contact the hunters who harvested the deer.
Currently, in the United States, 25 states have documented CWD.