A fourth elk has tested positive for chronic wasting disease near where elk closely congregate around hay provided to supplement their winter diets. 

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department sent word on Dec. 26 that a cow elk tested positive for the always-lethal neurological disease, which is caused by misfolded proteins called prions. The animal was found in elk hunt area 92, which includes portions of the Hoback River basin, Wyoming Range and Upper Green River basin.

“The cow elk appeared to be in good body condition and based on examination of the carcass it is likely the elk was wounded by a hunter and succumbed to its injuries,” Game and Fish spokeswoman Breanna Ball wrote in an email. 

Elk hunt area 92, which extends into the Hoback and Green River basins, is the third elk hunting area occupied by feedground-dependent herds to become the domain of chronic wasting disease. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)

CWD, a similar affliction to mad cow disease, has spread throughout the country and slowly westward across Wyoming since the 1990s. There’s no vaccine or means of treating the disease, which is considered a major threat to ungulate populations in North America. 

According to Ball, the suspected hunter-shot cow that recently tested positive for CWD was found in the Fisherman Creek drainage, a tributary of the Hoback River that’s located in the same general area as Game and Fish’s Dell Creek and McNeel Feedgrounds. 

Much attention has been paid to the spread of CWD into Wyoming’s elk-feeding region, partly because biologists anticipate grave consequences for herds that have become dependent on hay distributed daily during most winters. The U.S. Geological Survey recently projected that CWD will infect 42% of elk in the feedground herds of western Wyoming within 20 years of the disease’s arrival. Populations and hunter opportunity, in turn, would crater, falling from roughly 16,000 elk today to 8,300 animals over the same period in the Afton, Fall Creek, Piney, Pinedale and Upper Green River elk herds.

To date there have been four CWD-positive elk found within the feedground herd units, Ball said.

The first detection, in the Jackson Elk Herd, was of a cow killed by a hunter in Grand Teton National Park (elk hunt area 75) late in 2020. There have been detections in the feedground region farther south every year since, including positive tests from elk in hunt area 98 south of Pinedale in both 2021 and 2022.

Mike Koshmrl reports on Wyoming's wildlife and natural resources. Prior to joining WyoFile, he spent nearly a decade covering the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s wild places and creatures for the Jackson...

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for: 

  • Your real name — first and last. 
  • Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
  • The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
  • Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
  • Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
  • No more than three comments per story, including replies. 

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

  • Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
  • Comments that are not directly relevant to the article. 
  • Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
  • Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
  • Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know: 

  • Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. 
  • We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
  • We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance. 
  • Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
  • We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you. 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Reply