Apr 26, 2014 3 min read

A farmed deer in Jefferson County recently tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agricutlure, the seventh Pennsylvania deer to test positive for the fatal disease since 2012.

The five-year-old animal died on the deer farm near Reynoldsville.

That farm and one in Walnutport, Northampton County, where the deer was born, have been quarantined.

Two Adams County deer tested positive for CWD in 2012. During the investigation, the department quarantined 27 farms in 16 counties associated with the positive samples. Since then, five farms remain quarantined.

CWD, which has now been detected in 21 states and Canadian provinces, attacks the brains of infected antlered animals, such as deer, elk and moose, producing small lesions that eventually result in death. Animals can get the disease through direct contact with saliva, feces and urine from an infected animal.

There is no evidence that humans or livestock can get the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms include weight loss, excessive salivation, increased drinking and urination, and abnormal behavior like stumbling, trembling and depression. Infected deer and elk may also allow unusually close approach by humans or natural predators. The disease is fatal, and there is no known treatment or vaccine.

Pennsylvania has been monitoring for the disease in its deer herd since 1998.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture coordinates a mandatory surveillance program for more than 23,000 captive deer on 1,100 breeding farms, hobby farms and shooting preserves. Three captive deer have tested positive since 2012.

• According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there were 27 hunting-related shooting incidents in 2013, a new record low.

The commission has been tracking hunting-related shooting accidents since 1915 and never before had fewer than 33, a record mark matched last season.

“There’s still work to do,” said commission executive director Matt Hough, a Washington native and Trinity High School graduate. “Even one incident is too many and, as the record shows, we do not take hunter safety lightly. That said, we continue to be encouraged by record-low numbers of incidents and the continuing trend of safer hunting in Pennsylvania.”

Unfortunately, two of the 27 incidents in 2013 resulted in fatalities. In 2012, there were no hunting-related fatalities, the only year that has happened in state history.

The large majority of the of hunting-related shooting incidents in 2013 were due to unintentional discharge and a victim being in the line of fire, each accounting for one-third of the total.

One hunting-related shooting incident is still too many, but we’re obviously moving in the right direction when it comes to hunter safety.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.