Status of CWD
No new Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) cases have been identified in New York since 2005.
CWD Timeline in New York
Below are details on the initiation of DEC's CWD surveillance program, information on the first case of CWD in New York and actions taken by DEC to minimize its spread.
2002
- New York initiated a statewide CWD surveillance program in response to the first detection of the disease in western states of North America.
2003
- DEC initiated Part 189: Chronic Wasting Disease regulations to reduce the risk of bringing the disease into New York and to minimize its spread if it was detected in our state.
2005
- In early April, the first case of CWD was confirmed in five white-tailed deer from two captive breeding facilities in Oneida County.
- After detection, a containment area was imposed around the infected area in Madison and Oneida counties (Wildlife Management Unit 6P), with a mandatory deer check for harvested deer.
- An intensive monitoring program was established by DEC to sample deer in the infected area. Monitoring efforts for the month of April resulted in testing 290 deer samples from Oneida County, 2 from Madison County and 25 from Hamilton County.
- In late April, two wild white-tailed deer were confirmed to have CWD within the infected area.
2009
- Mandatory testing of deer from the Oneida/Madison county containment area ended, with routine testing to continue statewide.
2010
- More than 31,000 wild white-tailed deer were tested statewide from 2002 through 2010.
- In July, the Oneida/Madison containment area was lifted as no new cases of CWD were detected
Learn more about New York's CWD management and surveillance efforts.