Georgia DNR confirms first chronic wasting disease detection; activates response plan

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources told the Natural Resources Committee that a deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) on the Berrien–Lanier county line and the agency has activated its CWD response plan.

The finding prompted immediate steps including cluster sampling within a 1-mile radius of the harvest site, outreach to nearby landowners and processors, public meetings in Valdosta and Lakeland plus a virtual session, and expanded testing and communications, agency officials said. Commissioner (Georgia Department of Natural Resources) told the committee the agency had boots on the ground contacting taxidermists and processors and had issued a press release and local press briefings.

Dr. Johansen, a Georgia DNR official who briefed the committee on the disease, described CWD as a degenerative neurological disease caused by a misfolded prion that affects deer, elk and moose. "Once infected, it takes a deer about 18 to 30 months before it starts to show symptoms and signs," Dr. Johansen said, and she…