The Pennsylvania Game Commission has taken containment and sampling measures since a white-tailed deer suffering from chronic wasting disease (CWD) was found in Warren County in May 2021.

Since July 1, the PGC says a total of 11,000 samples were taken state-wide with 253 coming back positive for the fatal neurological disease.

In response to the discovery here, a Disease Management Area was established over 211 square miles in Warren County.

That DMA includes all of Elk, Glade, Conewango, Pine Grove and Farmington townships as well as parts of Sugar Grove Township, Sugar Grove Borough, Brokenstraw Township and Youngsville Borough.

Dashboard data indicates that a total of 431 samples have been tested from that area and no additional positive results were discovered.

“CWD surveillance is crucial to managing the disease,” said agency CWD Section Supervisor Andrea Korman.

Eight deer head collection bins were set up throughout that DMA area locally for hunters to submit specimens for testing.

“The results of this year’s efforts in these areas around recent detections were encouraging,” Korman said. “We received good cooperation from landowners and hunters, increased sampling close to the detection, and found no new CWD positive animals.”

Most of the deer that did test positive were located in a known area in southcentral Pennsylvania that has produced nearly 90%t of the state’s positive test results since the disease was detected in the Commonwealth in 2012.

According to the PGC, there will be “no change” to the DMA boundary in Warren County for 2022.

That presents challenges, according to county Treasurer Denny Munksgard.

“The negative economic impact for our area spreads from hunters, to processors, taxidermists, lodging, and other businesses that supply this industry,” he said, rhetorically asking whether “the PA Game Commission over-react(ed) with one deer in a fenced in hunting preserve?”

That deer was discovered on a hunting preserve in Pine Grove Township.

“Remaining deer were euthanized and all tested negative for the disease,” the Department of Agriculture stated in a release when the discovery was announced. “The department has quarantined the preserve for five years.”

Contact tracing to determine any further exposure is in progress and may necessitate additional quarantines.

Federal officials responded to the discovery by prohibiting wildlife feeding on the ANF.

The disease is considered highly contagious and develops slowly in the lymph nodes, spinal tissue and brains of deer and similar animals such as reindeer and elk.

State officials say that it does not affect other livestock and, to date, there is no evidence that it can be spread to humans.