HARRISBURG - Officials may never know how Chronic Wasting Disease made its way to the Pennsylvania wild-deer population, but both the PA Game Commission and Department of Agriculture are looking for answers.
Most recently, 3 wild deer tested positive for CWD, two of those deer were found in Blair County, while the third deer was found in Bedford County.
In October of 2012, captive deer on a deer farm in Adams County tested positive for CWD, and although two deer with connections to that farm escaped, neither tested positive for the deadly neurological disease.
In a phone interview with WTAJ News, Dr. Craig Shultz, Director of Animal Health for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said that he does not believe there's a strong link between the captive deer with CWD found on the Adams County deer farm and the deer found in the wild based on the evidence currently collected by the Dept. of Agriculture.
"We're still looking at this very closely," he added. "We're looking at all the details and using whatever evidence we have including DNA to verify or disprove the possible link."
Dr. Walter Cottrell, a Wildlife Veterinarian for the PA Game Commission says it's not uncommon for CWD to be found first in captive animals and later in wild animals, but Cottrell added the disease could have simply come from another wild deer or elk.
"The disease exists in West Virginia, it exists in Maryland," he said. "It may in fact just walk across our border."
