Georgia DNR confirms first chronic wasting disease case in wild deer; launches local sampling and outreach

Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials told a legislative committee that the state has confirmed its first positive test for chronic wasting disease, or CWD, in a hunter‑harvested deer and have activated a targeted response plan.

"We received our first positive confirmation from the US Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory," the department's commissioner told the committee, saying the sample came from a deer harvested in late November near the Lanier–Berrien county line. The commissioner and DNR staff said routine, long‑term surveillance — conducted statewide since 2002 — caught the case.

The discovery prompted immediate outreach and localized sampling. Dr. Tina Johansson, assistant chief of game management in DNR's Wildlife Resources Division, said DNR notified the hunter and the landowner, contacted nearby landowners and local processors and taxidermists, and has staff on the ground collecting additional samples.

"This deer looked perfectly normal and was harvested by a hunter," Dr. Johansson said, describing the department's approach: a CWD management area that includes counties touching a five‑mile radius around the harvest site and a "cluster sampling" strategy focused on the small groups of deer most likely to…