First-ever known case of ‘ZOMBIE’ deer disease confirmed in Yellowstone National Park: Officials warn of fatal brain virus that makes animals drool and unafraid of humans

The first case of “zombie” deer disease has been reported in… Yellowstone National Park after a deer carcass tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD).

The deadly brain virus leaves the animals disoriented, drooling and uncoordinated, reducing their fear of humans.

The US National Park Service has warned patrons to report any sightings of sick or dead wildlife “as soon as possible” and “avoid contact with the animal” as their staff races to prevent further spread of brain disease.

In recent years, CWD has spread to more than 23 U.S. states, two Canadian provinces and even South Korea, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) causes zombie-like symptoms, leaving creatures disoriented, drooling, and uncoordinated—with no fear of humans. CWD has spread to more than 23 US states, two Canadian provinces and South Korea, according to the US Geological Survey.

“There is currently no evidence that CWD can infect humans or domestic animal species,” the US National Park Service advised. Her statement Announcing the discovery of a dead mule buck.

“However,” the federal agency warned big game hunters in particular, “it is recommended not to consume tissue from animals infected with CWD.”

Samples taken from the body of an infected mule deer tested positive for CWD during multiple rounds conducted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Wildlife Health Laboratory.

Typical testing for live and dead animals involves taking tissue samples from the creature’s nervous system, either from the central nervous system, such as the spinal cord, or from peripheral organs, such as the retropharyngeal lymph nodes and tonsils.

CWD is a prion-borne disease, similar to “mad cow disease,” which can cause weight loss, loss of coordination and other ultimately fatal neurological symptoms in deer and related species.

“Prion diseases,” according to Johns Hopkins Medicine“It occurs when the normal prion protein, found on the surface of many cells, becomes abnormal and clumps in the brain, causing brain damage.”

Authorities said there is currently no vaccine or treatment for CWD, and the disease is 100 percent fatal.

The US National Park Service (NPS) has issued a warning to park goers to report any sightings of sick or dead wildlife “as soon as possible” and “avoid contact with the animal” as its staff races to prevent further spread of the disease. Brain disease via Yellowstone

Wildlife managers working in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park have positively confirmed that an adult mule deer has died of fatal brain disease — the first ever known case of CWD within Yellowstone’s borders.

The carcass of the injured buck was tracked to a peninsula along the southern edge of Yellowstone Lake, via a GPS collar fitted last March to study population dynamics.

Park officials in Yellowstone said they are now working with WGFD to monitor the park’s deer and other ungulate species, both alive and dead, to better assess the extent of CWD’s spread across the national park.

Yellowstone National Park officials said the discovery prompted them to review the park CWD Surveillance Plan for 2021 – with a new protocol expected to be released sometime next year.

Yellowstone also plans to increase its collaborative efforts with WGFD to identify areas of the park most at risk of contracting the disease, park spokesman Morgan Warthin said.

CWD was first discovered in mule deer in Wyoming in 1985 along the southeastern region of the state.

The following year, a fatal brain disease was discovered in Wyoming elk, according to WGFD.

The disease’s arrival in Yellowstone marks the end of a decades-long spread westward across the state, reaching the national park site in Wyoming’s northwest corner.

Wyoming game officials were tracking the mule deer from March 2023 until October 2023, when its GPS tag indicated it was likely dead.

Their search for his body took them to a landmass located between the south and southeastern arms of Yellowstone Lake, known as the promontory.

North of the park, Montana wildlife regulators also assist with efforts to monitor game taken by local hunters in their state.

Morgan Jacobsen, a spokesman for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks District 3, told Daily Montanan Many cases of CWD have not yet been discovered in the state’s hunting areas adjacent to Yellowstone.

Jacobsen called the news an “interesting data point,” but not news that would radically change Montana’s CWD surveillance plans.

“We will continue our monitoring and communications with the park and will continue to work with hunters as the primary management tool for CWD in Montana,” Jacobsen said.