Chronic wasting disease was detected for the first time on the Flathead Reservation. Tribal officials are now sampling deer herds to see how widespread the fatal disease is.
CWD is a fast-spreading disease that’s 100% fatal to deer, elk and moose. It’s been detected throughout Montana, but until now, hasn’t been seen on Confederated Salish and Kootenai lands.
The tribes say a mule deer taken by a tribal hunter tested positive earlier this month. The deer was killed in the northeastern corner of the reservation.
Rich Jansen is the head of the tribes’ Natural Resources Department.
“Our people don’t want it on the reservation. That is a big thing for us because it is a culturally sensitive food source, frankly that we utilize," said Jansen.
There hasn’t been a documented case of humans becoming infected, but federal health officials advise against eating animals that test positive.
Jansen asks hunters to submit their animals for testing and wants 150 samples.
