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Fish and Game outlines CWD risk and surveillance after detections in multiple Idaho regions
Summary
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game told the House Resources and Conservation Committee that chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been detected in multiple Idaho locations and that the department’s response centers on surveillance, mandatory testing in management zones, carcass rules and targeted population reduction where needed.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks told the committee that chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an invariably fatal prion disease of cervids that is infectious, environmentally persistent and difficult to eradicate.
“Prions are virtually impossible to destroy,” Fredericks said, explaining that only extremely high temperatures or caustic chemicals reliably inactivate prions. He described typical symptoms, long incubation (years) and environmental shedding via saliva, urine and feces.
Fredericks reviewed Idaho detections and responses: the initial detection in the Slate Creek drainage (Game Management Unit 14) prompted a surveillance hunt, establishment of a management zone (Units 14 and 15) and focused removals in cooperation with USDA Wildlife Services and private landowners. A single positive hunter-harvested mule deer was later reported about 50 air miles south near Units 23/32A; mandatory testing was imposed for harvested deer there and nearly 900 samples yielded no additional positives.
In the Panhandle, a landowner reported a sick animal near Bonners Ferry in 2024; an emergency surveillance hunt and subsequent general-season sampling produced six positive animals in that GMU and about 1,400 samples with estimated prevalence below 0.5%.
Fredericks said Idaho has been testing for CWD since 1997 and maintains targeted surveillance in units adjacent to states with known CWD. He described management tools used in zones: restrictions on carcass movement, bans on feeding, mandatory testing and localized harvest increases or targeted removals to reduce prevalence.
The director also noted recent positive tests in two captive elk facilities near Rigby; the State Department of Agriculture leads those responses and Fish and Game is increasing sampling around the facilities to confirm any free‑ranging infection.
On carcass handling, Fredericks said the agency asks hunters to leave brain and spinal column material in the field and to bag and landfill other waste rather than moving it across the landscape; he said incineration of infected carcasses is not a practical landscape‑scale control.
Committee members asked about disposal, live testing and whether eradication is possible. Fredericks and staff said there is no live test for CWD, prions persist long-term in soil and eradication has not been achieved in free‑ranging populations; some intensive local eradication efforts on captive sites or small wild areas have been attempted but prion persistence and wildlife movement complicate outcomes.
Fredericks recommended continued surveillance, targeted management to lower prevalence in focal areas and slowing spread into new regions as the most effective current strategy.
