Tribes begin third year of a Chronic Wasting Disease testing project

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Wildlife Management Program is beginning the third year of a chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing project. The chronic wasting disease-testing project will assist wildlife managers in assessing the health of resident wildlife.

The results of the project will allow the Tribal Wildlife Management Program to examine both deer and elk reservation-wide. These findings will assist in determining whether to continue the monitoring process or proceed with a more active management plan.

"CWD has not been found within wild populations of free ranging deer or elk within the state of Montana," said Stephanie Gillin, Tribal Wildlife Biologist. "This grant provides an opportunity to proactively examine resident populations,'' added Gillin.

The Tribal Wildlife Management Program will collect the brain stems from deer and elk for testing. The collection process began October 9, 2006 and will continue throughout the hunting season. Hunters are asked to assist this project by dropping off deer and elk heads with the first and second vertebrae intact to the Tribal Wildlife Management Program. If you harvest a buck or bull and would like to keep the head or want to keep the head of your harvested animal for any reason, simply call and we can either work with the taxidermist, meat processor or collect our sample on site.

"While we do not anticipate finding CWD on the reservation at this time; our concerns are for the continued health of big game," according to Gillin.

Deer and elk brain stems must be fresh and examined within 2 days of harvest in order to collect a sample for this project. Deer and elk heads can be dropped of at the Tribal Wildlife Program office at the old Mission Valley Power Office in Polson or call us to make arrangement for an alternative drop site.

For more information about CWD or to participate in this CWD testing project contact Stephanie Gillin or Germaine White at 883-2888.