Stephenson County joins CWD list

Chronic wasting disease has spread to Stephenson County, wildlife officials announced last week.

A deer killed by a hunter west of Freeport in the fall tested positive for the fatal disease.

Officials believe the deer likely roamed to Stephenson County from the core infected area in Winnebago and Boone counties, where the state’s first CWD case was found in 2002.

They hope it is an isolated case similar to single positives found in other northern Illinois counties.

“We seem to find them quickly enough, but in most of those incidents we don’t find another one,” said Paul Shelton, the state Department of Natural Resources’ forest wildlife program manager.

Two positives were found in Ogle County three years ago, but none since. The same has been true so far after single infected deer were discovered in LaSalle and southeast DeKalb counties.

“It seems like it’s not getting into places and festering for awhile,” Shelton said. “We seem to be managing to stay on top of them, and that gives us hope we are doing the right thing.”

DNR sharpshooters will kill additional deer in Stephenson County in coming weeks for CWD tests.

Twenty-four new cases were found in northern Illinois from more than 4,100 tests on deer killed by hunters and DNR staff since last fall.

Results are pending on more than 2,000 additional samples.

Winnebago County had 10 new cases since last fall, while Boone had seven and northern DeKalb six.

The IDNR began more intensive sampling of deer for chronic wasting disease after the first deer with CWD were found in Boone and Winnebago counties in 2002. Since then, Illinois has recorded a total of 213 deer positive for the disease in Winnebago (89 deer), Boone (82), DeKalb (22), McHenry (16), Ogle (2), LaSalle (1) and Stephenson (1) counties. 

CWD is a fatal neurological disease found in deer and elk. It is not known to be contagious to livestock or humans.