CWD Discovered at Wyoming Elk Feedground, Raising More Concerns Over the State’s Supplemental Feeding Program

An adult cow elk found dead on the Scab Creek feedground in late December tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. This marks the third documented case of the disease in Wyoming’s Elk Hunt Area 98 and the first confirmed case on an elk feedground in the state, according to a Jan. 15 announcement from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. 

The discovery is significant because winter feedgrounds have become controversial in recent years as Wyoming wildlife managers try to contain the spread of CWD. The timing is noteworthy, too. WGFD approved a statewide Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan last March that allows managers to tweak or change operations at specific feedgrounds based on the health of certain herds. WyoFile reports that the Pinedale herd, which frequents the Scab Creek Feedground, will be looked at more closely by WGFD this year.

The primary concern among biologists is that by concentrating so many animals in a small area, feedgrounds can increase the risk of disease transmission and speed up the rate at which CWD spreads in an elk herd. And because CWD prions can remain for long periods in the soil, the elk that return to the same feedgrounds year after year are more likely to be exposed.

USGS research published in 2023 supports these concerns, and suggests that if no changes are made, WGFD feedgrounds could contribute to CWD rates above 40 percent in certain areas. This could ultimately result in a reduction of the Afton, Fall Creek, Piney, Pinedale and Upper Green River herds by almost half. Experts concluded that ending supplemental winter feeding altogether would have the best long-term projected outcomes for Wyoming elk herds, and that even a three-year phaseout would have potentially dire consequences for the state’s elk population. 

Wyoming has been doling out hay on established feedgrounds since 1912, and it’s the only U.S. state with an elk feedground program. The effort was instituted to help elk survive harsh winters. Winter feeding also keeps hungry elk from damaging private ranches and spreading diseases such as brucellosis to local cattle. WGFD currently operates over 20 feedgrounds that feed some 20,000 elk in Teton, Lincoln, and Sublette Counties.

The Scab Creek Feedground is located in Elk Hunt Area 98 southeast of Pinedale, Wyoming, in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains. The hunt area abuts areas 28, 92, and 127, all of which have had confirmed cases of CWD in elk. 

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The first confirmed case of CWD in Wyoming elk occurred in 2020 in Grand Teton National Park. The cow elk that tested positive had been shot near a feedground by a participant in the Park’s elk reduction program.

Chronic Wasting Disease is a degenerative prion disease similar to mad cow disease that poses a serious threat to North America’s deer, elk, and moose populations. It is 100 percent fatal to infected ungulates and causes weight loss, listlessness, drooling, and excessive drinking and urination. It can take months for infected animals to develop observable symptoms, and the disease is transmitted through saliva, urine, feces, and infected carcasses.