Kentucky Confirms Second CWD Case in wild Deer With 8 additional CWD Positives from the Positive Breckenridge County farm to date
Kentucky Confirms Second CWD Case in wild Deer With 8 additional CWD Positives from the Positive Breckenridge County farm to date
I’m curious about the traceability records trace-outs, trace-ins of the CWD Positive Breckenridge County farm?
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE DETECTED IN PULASKI COUNTY WILD DEER
Administration Hunting Commission Wildlife-Disease-Management Wildlife Law-Enforcement Education
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2025) — Officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announced today that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is confirmed in a wild deer harvested by a hunter earlier this hunting season in Pulaski County.
Two independent types of tests were performed on tissue collected from a 2.5-year-old male white-tailed deer. Both tests yielded the same result: the deer was infected with the abnormal proteins that cause CWD.
This is the second wild deer in Kentucky confirmed with CWD, an always-fatal neurologic disease that affects deer, elk and other species in the deer family.
Chronic Wasting Disease has previously been confirmed in a wild deer in Ballard County in December 2023 and nine deer from a captive cervid facility in Breckinridge County, with one in October 2024 and eight in August 2025.
Chronic Wasting Disease is caused by abnormal proteins called prions. There is no known cure or vaccine, and the disease is always fatal in infected animals. The disease is not known to be transmissible to people, but as a precaution the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends not consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife always recommends not consuming meat taken from animals that appear to be sick or in poor condition.
As Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff continue to gather additional details about the infected deer, agency officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency’s CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection.
As part of the response plan, the agency will schedule a public meeting in Pulaski County in November to discuss the disease, available CWD testing options and any potential hunting regulation changes. In addition, an update on CWD and suggested actions will be brought before the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission for their review at the commission’s planned quarterly meeting on Dec. 5, 2025, in Frankfort.
Biologists collected tissue from the animal as part of ongoing CWD Surveillance efforts. Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has CWD-tested more than 70,000 deer and elk from across the state.
“Routine and regular sample collection has been a key component in monitoring the health of our deer and elk herds,” Wildlife Division Director Ben Robinson said. “While this detection of CWD is not in close proximity to the other detections, we will work with hunters and partners to try to contain it.”
Fourteen counties near the previous positive detections make up the CWD Surveillance Zone. Ballard, Breckinridge, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Marshall, McCracken, Meade, Union and Webster counties are under carcass transportation and baiting restrictions in an effort to monitor and contain CWD. Hunters in Henderson, Union and Webster counties also must take their harvested deer to a staffed check station or use a CWD Sample Drop-Off Site the first three days of modern gun season.
Hunters can aid Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s statewide monitoring efforts by dropping off the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for CWD testing and aging at self-serve CWD Sample Drop-off sites or via sample mail-in kits. This service is provided at no cost to hunters. Detailed location information, instructions and additional resources may be found at the CWD Sample Drop-Off Sites and CWD Sample Mail-in Kit webpages on the department’s website (fw.ky.gov). Hunters will be promptly notified if a deer they harvested tests positive for CWD.
Deer that appear to be sick but do not have an obvious injury can be reported using the department’s sick deer online reporting form; reports will be reviewed by the agency’s wildlife health program staff, who may contact the person submitting the report if additional information is needed.
For more information on CWD, please visit the department's Chronic Wasting Disease webpage and follow its social media channels. More information about CWD is available through the CDC and cwd-info.org websites. For questions, contact the department’s Information Center at 800-858-1549, or at info.center@ky.gov, weekdays 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Eastern), except holidays.
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease-detected-in-Pulaski-County-wild-deer.aspx
Kentucky CWD October 2025 Special Report 10 Positive Cases To Date
Kentucky October 2025 Special Report 8 additional CWD Positives from Breckenridge County farm, brings Total to 9 Captive to date, with 1 wild confirmed, to date…
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2025/10/kentucky-cwd-october-2025-special.html
“nine captive deer at a Breckenridge County farm tested positive for the disease in October, 2024.”
Chronic Wasting Disease
According to the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, CWD is a neurological disease impacting cervids, a classification of animals that includes deer, elk, and moose. The disease is always fatal once contracted, and has been discovered in 36 states. It was first documented in Kentucky from a wild deer harvested in Ballard County in 2023. That remains the only documented CWD case in a wild deer in the state, though nine captive deer at a Breckenridge County farm tested positive for the disease in October, 2024...
https://www.wkyufm.org/news/2025-10-03/kentucky-fish-and-wildlife-asking-hunters-to-report-two-diseases-impacting-deer-and-elk
A disease outbreak on a Kentucky deer farm is renewing questions about whether stronger rules are needed for the more than 100 “captive cervid facilities” the state has permitted.
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal prion disorder similar to mad cow disease. Only 10 cases have been confirmed in Kentucky — nine of them on the Breckinridge County farm — out of 40,000 tests since 2002.
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/09/08/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
CWD Meeting in Breckinridge County
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jwaH-yadNFE&t=809
HUNTING & TRAPPING GUIDE Regulations Summary • AUGUST 2025 – MARCH 2026
NEW THIS YEAR
Changes from last season are printed in bright blue throughout this guide to as- sist you in noticing those changes. Some of the most notable are listed below.
DEER HUNTING
Henderson, Union and Webster counties have been added to Kentucky’s CWD Surveillance Zone. There are now 14 counties with special regulations for CWD surveillance. This year, surveil- lance counties will include a special modern gun season for antlerless deer only Sept. 27-28. This special season does not apply to counties outside of the surveillance zone.
West Kentucky WMA and Reel- foot Lake National Wildlife Refuge are closed to the antlerless only season. Big Rivers WMA and State Forest: Union County portion open for the antlerless only season, firearms permitted. Man- datory CWD testing required. Crit- tenden County portion is outside the surveillance zone and not open for this season.
During this special weekend sea- son, all hunters in the surveillance zone, including archery and crossbow hunters, may only take antlerless deer (does and button bucks). Hunters may not take antlered deer by any method in surveillance zone counties during this special season. Hunters must wear or- ange. See the deer section for addition- al sampling requirements in the CWD Surveillance Zone.
The youth-only modern gun season for deer has been expanded to nine days.
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is fatal to white-tailed deer, elk and other members of the deer family. CWD has been detected in Kentucky.
STATEWIDE CARCASS IMPORTATION RESTRICTIONS
It is illegal to bring whole car- casses or parts containing brain material of any member of the deer family into Kentucky from outside the state. Hunters can only bring back the following: deboned meat, antlers, antlers attached to clean skull cap, clean skulls, clean teeth, hides and finished taxidermy products.
GET INVOLVED Hunters can get their Kentucky- harvested deer tested for CWD during the season by:
• Dropping off deer heads at a CWD Sample Drop-off site (see page 14). Heads may be caped out or skull capped, but must include 5 inches of neck.
• Contacting a local biologist by calling 1-800-858-1549.
• Using the “DIY” CWD mail-in kit. Visit fw.ky.gov/CWD for more information.
Updated news regarding CWD can be found at fw.ky.gov/CWD.
See CWD report, regulations pages 13 and 24
https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Documents/huntingguideentire.pdf
KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES PROVIDES UPDATE ON CWD TESTING EFFORTS FOR 2024-2025 DEER SEASON Education Hunting Law-EnforcementWildlife Wildlife-Disease-Management
FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 2, 2025) — The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has completed its Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance and testing for the 2024-2025 deer season. Testing of 9,204 samples statewide found no new cases of the disease in wild deer.
Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has tested more than 60,000 deer and elk, with hunters providing most of the tissue samples for testing. Outside the fall hunting season, the department also collects and tests samples from roadkill and sick or found dead deer reported to the department throughout the year.
"We are grateful for the continued support of Kentucky's deer hunters, whose participation makes this possible," said Joe McDermott, deer program coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. "Their contributions play a key role in monitoring the health of the state’s deer population and tracking the spread of CWD.”
To date, CWD has been detected in Kentucky twice: in a wild deer in Ballard County in November 2023, and more recently in October 2024 in a captive deer from a permitted captive deer facility in Breckinridge County. Just over 100 deer farms or high-fence shooting facilities operate in Kentucky. Captive deer and elk are legally designated as livestock in the commonwealth and are thus regulated primarily by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
A significant portion of the 2024-2025 deer season samples tested - 4,483 - were gathered from two multi-county CWD surveillance zones. These surveillance zones were established as a result of the two detections of the disease in Kentucky.
Chronic Wasting Disease samples were submitted by hunters via a variety of pathways, including CWD Sample Drop-off sites, CWD Sample Mail-in Kits, partnering taxidermists and processors and mandatory check stations operated by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff. Testing for the disease was free, and hunters can access their results online. If a hunter-harvested deer tested positive for CWD, the hunter would have been contacted upon confirmation of the disease.
Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal neurological disease affecting the cervid family, including deer, elk and moose. The disease not only affects individual deer; it causes long-term effects in deer herd health. It can also adversely affect hunting participation; hunting is vital for keeping deer numbers in check on a large scale.
Kentucky’s wild deer population is estimated at around a million animals, which largely underpins the $2 billion in economic benefit afforded by hunting to the commonwealth each year. More than 300,000 hunters pursue white-tailed deer and elk in Kentucky annually, depending on this important source of protein for themselves and their families. Deer hunters also donate thousands of deer to Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry, which in turn supplies more than a half-million protein servings to shelters and food banks across the state each year. Chronic Wasting Disease thus poses a significant threat to Kentucky’s wild deer and elk herds, our culture and food supply, and our economy.
While CWD is not known to be transmissible to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hunters avoid consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease as a precaution. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife also advises against consuming meat from animals that appear sick or unhealthy.
Plans for 2025-2026 CWD surveillance and monitoring will be presented to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission at an upcoming meeting. For more information on CWD visit the Chronic Wasting Disease webpage on the agency’s website (fw.ky.gov).
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Kentucky-Department-of-Fish-and-Wildlife-Resources-provides-update-on-CWD-testing-efforts-for-2024-2025-deer-season.aspx
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE DETECTED IN CAPTIVE CERVID FROM BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY Administration Hunting WildlifeWildlife-Disease-Management
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2024) — Officials from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are gathering additional information and carefully evaluating next steps following Monday’s announcement by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture that lab testing confirmed Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in a deceased deer from a Breckinridge County deer farm. It marks Kentucky’s first case of CWD in a captive cervid.
Chronic Wasting Disease is caused by abnormal proteins called prions and it affects white-tailed deer, elk, and other animals in the deer family. There is no known cure or vaccine, and the disease is always fatal in infected animals. The disease is not known to be transmissible to people, but as a precaution the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends not consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife always recommends not consuming meat taken from animals that appear to be sick or in poor condition.
The state Department of Agriculture has issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the Breckinridge County facility, including live deer or deer products.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency’s CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection.
Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has CWD-tested more than 40,000 deer and elk from across the state.
Hunters can aid Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s statewide monitoring efforts by dropping off the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for CWD testing and aging at self-serve CWD Sample Drop-Off sites. This service is provided at no cost to hunters. Detailed location information, instructions and additional resources may be found at the CWD Sample Drop-Off Sites page on the department’s website. Hunters will be promptly notified if a deer they harvested tests positive for CWD.
Deer that appear to be sick but do not have an obvious injury can be reported using the department’s sick deer online reporting form; reports will be reviewed by the agency’s wildlife health program staff, who will contact the person submitting the report if additional information is needed.
For the latest information on CWD, please visit the department's website (fw.ky.gov) and follow its social media channels. More information about CWD is available at fw.ky.gov/cwd, cwd-info.org and through the CDC website.
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease-detected-in-captive-cervid-from-Breckinridge-County.aspx
https://www.kyagr.com/statevet/farmed-cervids.html
HTTPS://WWW.APHIS.USDA.GOV/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/STATUS-OF-CAPTIVE-HERDS.PDF
https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease.aspx
https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease.aspx
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2024
Kentucky CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE DETECTED IN CAPTIVE CERVID FROM BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2024/10/kentucky-chronic-wasting-disease.html
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2025
Kentucky Confirmed Captive CWD Oct. 14, 2024, this month KDA confirmed eight new CWD positive deer at the same facility
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2025/09/kentucky-confirmed-captive-cwd-oct-14.html
Administration Hunting Commission Wildlife-Disease-Management Wildlife Law-Enforcement Education
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2025) — Officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announced today that Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is confirmed in a wild deer harvested by a hunter earlier this hunting season in Pulaski County.
Two independent types of tests were performed on tissue collected from a 2.5-year-old male white-tailed deer. Both tests yielded the same result: the deer was infected with the abnormal proteins that cause CWD.
This is the second wild deer in Kentucky confirmed with CWD, an always-fatal neurologic disease that affects deer, elk and other species in the deer family.
Chronic Wasting Disease has previously been confirmed in a wild deer in Ballard County in December 2023 and nine deer from a captive cervid facility in Breckinridge County, with one in October 2024 and eight in August 2025.
Chronic Wasting Disease is caused by abnormal proteins called prions. There is no known cure or vaccine, and the disease is always fatal in infected animals. The disease is not known to be transmissible to people, but as a precaution the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends not consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife always recommends not consuming meat taken from animals that appear to be sick or in poor condition.
As Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff continue to gather additional details about the infected deer, agency officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency’s CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection.
As part of the response plan, the agency will schedule a public meeting in Pulaski County in November to discuss the disease, available CWD testing options and any potential hunting regulation changes. In addition, an update on CWD and suggested actions will be brought before the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission for their review at the commission’s planned quarterly meeting on Dec. 5, 2025, in Frankfort.
Biologists collected tissue from the animal as part of ongoing CWD Surveillance efforts. Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has CWD-tested more than 70,000 deer and elk from across the state.
“Routine and regular sample collection has been a key component in monitoring the health of our deer and elk herds,” Wildlife Division Director Ben Robinson said. “While this detection of CWD is not in close proximity to the other detections, we will work with hunters and partners to try to contain it.”
Fourteen counties near the previous positive detections make up the CWD Surveillance Zone. Ballard, Breckinridge, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Marshall, McCracken, Meade, Union and Webster counties are under carcass transportation and baiting restrictions in an effort to monitor and contain CWD. Hunters in Henderson, Union and Webster counties also must take their harvested deer to a staffed check station or use a CWD Sample Drop-Off Site the first three days of modern gun season.
Hunters can aid Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s statewide monitoring efforts by dropping off the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for CWD testing and aging at self-serve CWD Sample Drop-off sites or via sample mail-in kits. This service is provided at no cost to hunters. Detailed location information, instructions and additional resources may be found at the CWD Sample Drop-Off Sites and CWD Sample Mail-in Kit webpages on the department’s website (fw.ky.gov). Hunters will be promptly notified if a deer they harvested tests positive for CWD.
Deer that appear to be sick but do not have an obvious injury can be reported using the department’s sick deer online reporting form; reports will be reviewed by the agency’s wildlife health program staff, who may contact the person submitting the report if additional information is needed.
For more information on CWD, please visit the department's Chronic Wasting Disease webpage and follow its social media channels. More information about CWD is available through the CDC and cwd-info.org websites. For questions, contact the department’s Information Center at 800-858-1549, or at info.center@ky.gov, weekdays 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Eastern), except holidays.
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease-detected-in-Pulaski-County-wild-deer.aspx
Kentucky CWD October 2025 Special Report 10 Positive Cases To Date
Kentucky October 2025 Special Report 8 additional CWD Positives from Breckenridge County farm, brings Total to 9 Captive to date, with 1 wild confirmed, to date…
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2025/10/kentucky-cwd-october-2025-special.html
“nine captive deer at a Breckenridge County farm tested positive for the disease in October, 2024.”
Chronic Wasting Disease
According to the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, CWD is a neurological disease impacting cervids, a classification of animals that includes deer, elk, and moose. The disease is always fatal once contracted, and has been discovered in 36 states. It was first documented in Kentucky from a wild deer harvested in Ballard County in 2023. That remains the only documented CWD case in a wild deer in the state, though nine captive deer at a Breckenridge County farm tested positive for the disease in October, 2024...
https://www.wkyufm.org/news/2025-10-03/kentucky-fish-and-wildlife-asking-hunters-to-report-two-diseases-impacting-deer-and-elk
A disease outbreak on a Kentucky deer farm is renewing questions about whether stronger rules are needed for the more than 100 “captive cervid facilities” the state has permitted.
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal prion disorder similar to mad cow disease. Only 10 cases have been confirmed in Kentucky — nine of them on the Breckinridge County farm — out of 40,000 tests since 2002.
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/09/08/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
CWD Meeting in Breckinridge County
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jwaH-yadNFE&t=809
HUNTING & TRAPPING GUIDE Regulations Summary • AUGUST 2025 – MARCH 2026
NEW THIS YEAR
Changes from last season are printed in bright blue throughout this guide to as- sist you in noticing those changes. Some of the most notable are listed below.
DEER HUNTING
Henderson, Union and Webster counties have been added to Kentucky’s CWD Surveillance Zone. There are now 14 counties with special regulations for CWD surveillance. This year, surveil- lance counties will include a special modern gun season for antlerless deer only Sept. 27-28. This special season does not apply to counties outside of the surveillance zone.
West Kentucky WMA and Reel- foot Lake National Wildlife Refuge are closed to the antlerless only season. Big Rivers WMA and State Forest: Union County portion open for the antlerless only season, firearms permitted. Man- datory CWD testing required. Crit- tenden County portion is outside the surveillance zone and not open for this season.
During this special weekend sea- son, all hunters in the surveillance zone, including archery and crossbow hunters, may only take antlerless deer (does and button bucks). Hunters may not take antlered deer by any method in surveillance zone counties during this special season. Hunters must wear or- ange. See the deer section for addition- al sampling requirements in the CWD Surveillance Zone.
The youth-only modern gun season for deer has been expanded to nine days.
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is fatal to white-tailed deer, elk and other members of the deer family. CWD has been detected in Kentucky.
STATEWIDE CARCASS IMPORTATION RESTRICTIONS
It is illegal to bring whole car- casses or parts containing brain material of any member of the deer family into Kentucky from outside the state. Hunters can only bring back the following: deboned meat, antlers, antlers attached to clean skull cap, clean skulls, clean teeth, hides and finished taxidermy products.
GET INVOLVED Hunters can get their Kentucky- harvested deer tested for CWD during the season by:
• Dropping off deer heads at a CWD Sample Drop-off site (see page 14). Heads may be caped out or skull capped, but must include 5 inches of neck.
• Contacting a local biologist by calling 1-800-858-1549.
• Using the “DIY” CWD mail-in kit. Visit fw.ky.gov/CWD for more information.
Updated news regarding CWD can be found at fw.ky.gov/CWD.
See CWD report, regulations pages 13 and 24
https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Documents/huntingguideentire.pdf
KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES PROVIDES UPDATE ON CWD TESTING EFFORTS FOR 2024-2025 DEER SEASON Education Hunting Law-EnforcementWildlife Wildlife-Disease-Management
FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 2, 2025) — The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has completed its Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance and testing for the 2024-2025 deer season. Testing of 9,204 samples statewide found no new cases of the disease in wild deer.
Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has tested more than 60,000 deer and elk, with hunters providing most of the tissue samples for testing. Outside the fall hunting season, the department also collects and tests samples from roadkill and sick or found dead deer reported to the department throughout the year.
"We are grateful for the continued support of Kentucky's deer hunters, whose participation makes this possible," said Joe McDermott, deer program coordinator for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. "Their contributions play a key role in monitoring the health of the state’s deer population and tracking the spread of CWD.”
To date, CWD has been detected in Kentucky twice: in a wild deer in Ballard County in November 2023, and more recently in October 2024 in a captive deer from a permitted captive deer facility in Breckinridge County. Just over 100 deer farms or high-fence shooting facilities operate in Kentucky. Captive deer and elk are legally designated as livestock in the commonwealth and are thus regulated primarily by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
A significant portion of the 2024-2025 deer season samples tested - 4,483 - were gathered from two multi-county CWD surveillance zones. These surveillance zones were established as a result of the two detections of the disease in Kentucky.
Chronic Wasting Disease samples were submitted by hunters via a variety of pathways, including CWD Sample Drop-off sites, CWD Sample Mail-in Kits, partnering taxidermists and processors and mandatory check stations operated by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife staff. Testing for the disease was free, and hunters can access their results online. If a hunter-harvested deer tested positive for CWD, the hunter would have been contacted upon confirmation of the disease.
Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal neurological disease affecting the cervid family, including deer, elk and moose. The disease not only affects individual deer; it causes long-term effects in deer herd health. It can also adversely affect hunting participation; hunting is vital for keeping deer numbers in check on a large scale.
Kentucky’s wild deer population is estimated at around a million animals, which largely underpins the $2 billion in economic benefit afforded by hunting to the commonwealth each year. More than 300,000 hunters pursue white-tailed deer and elk in Kentucky annually, depending on this important source of protein for themselves and their families. Deer hunters also donate thousands of deer to Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry, which in turn supplies more than a half-million protein servings to shelters and food banks across the state each year. Chronic Wasting Disease thus poses a significant threat to Kentucky’s wild deer and elk herds, our culture and food supply, and our economy.
While CWD is not known to be transmissible to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that hunters avoid consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease as a precaution. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife also advises against consuming meat from animals that appear sick or unhealthy.
Plans for 2025-2026 CWD surveillance and monitoring will be presented to the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission at an upcoming meeting. For more information on CWD visit the Chronic Wasting Disease webpage on the agency’s website (fw.ky.gov).
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Kentucky-Department-of-Fish-and-Wildlife-Resources-provides-update-on-CWD-testing-efforts-for-2024-2025-deer-season.aspx
CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE DETECTED IN CAPTIVE CERVID FROM BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY Administration Hunting WildlifeWildlife-Disease-Management
FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 14, 2024) — Officials from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are gathering additional information and carefully evaluating next steps following Monday’s announcement by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture that lab testing confirmed Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in a deceased deer from a Breckinridge County deer farm. It marks Kentucky’s first case of CWD in a captive cervid.
Chronic Wasting Disease is caused by abnormal proteins called prions and it affects white-tailed deer, elk, and other animals in the deer family. There is no known cure or vaccine, and the disease is always fatal in infected animals. The disease is not known to be transmissible to people, but as a precaution the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends not consuming meat from deer that test positive for the disease. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife always recommends not consuming meat taken from animals that appear to be sick or in poor condition.
The state Department of Agriculture has issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the Breckinridge County facility, including live deer or deer products.
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials are in close communication with national, state and local partners and will reference the agency’s CWD Response Plan in response to this new detection.
Since 2002, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has CWD-tested more than 40,000 deer and elk from across the state.
Hunters can aid Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s statewide monitoring efforts by dropping off the heads of legally harvested and telechecked deer for CWD testing and aging at self-serve CWD Sample Drop-Off sites. This service is provided at no cost to hunters. Detailed location information, instructions and additional resources may be found at the CWD Sample Drop-Off Sites page on the department’s website. Hunters will be promptly notified if a deer they harvested tests positive for CWD.
Deer that appear to be sick but do not have an obvious injury can be reported using the department’s sick deer online reporting form; reports will be reviewed by the agency’s wildlife health program staff, who will contact the person submitting the report if additional information is needed.
For the latest information on CWD, please visit the department's website (fw.ky.gov) and follow its social media channels. More information about CWD is available at fw.ky.gov/cwd, cwd-info.org and through the CDC website.
https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease-detected-in-captive-cervid-from-Breckinridge-County.aspx
https://www.kyagr.com/statevet/farmed-cervids.html
HTTPS://WWW.APHIS.USDA.GOV/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/STATUS-OF-CAPTIVE-HERDS.PDF
https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease.aspx
https://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Chronic-Wasting-Disease.aspx
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2024
Kentucky CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE DETECTED IN CAPTIVE CERVID FROM BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2024/10/kentucky-chronic-wasting-disease.html
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2025
Kentucky Confirmed Captive CWD Oct. 14, 2024, this month KDA confirmed eight new CWD positive deer at the same facility
https://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2025/09/kentucky-confirmed-captive-cwd-oct-14.html
Deer Farm Herd Killed to Stem Spread of ‘Zombie’ Deer Disease in Kentucky. Now What?
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
by Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern September 8, 2025
Do deer farms increase the risk that wild deer like this buck will contract a contagious and deadly neurological disease? Opinions differ. / Photo: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
A disease outbreak on a Kentucky deer farm is renewing questions about whether stronger rules are needed for the more than 100 “captive cervid facilities” the state has permitted.
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal prion disorder similar to mad cow disease. Only 10 cases have been confirmed in Kentucky — nine of them on the Breckinridge County farm — out of 40,000 tests since 2002. But the disease’s spread in other states has made preventing it a priority for wildlife managers nationwide because it causes population declines in deer and elk when prevalent.
Much about the neurological condition — dubbed “zombie deer disease” — is unknown. In deer, it causes significant weight loss, listlessness and death. A deer can appear healthy and have CWD for months or years before symptoms appear. Research has produced conflicting conclusions on the risk of it spreading to humans.
In Breckinridge County, more than 100 captive deer were killed in early July at Sinking Creek Whitetails, said co-owner Laura Voyles, whose family started the deer farm in 2020. A Kentucky Department of Agriculture statement said the “depopulation was carried out” at the request of the owner “to protect animal health and prevent further spread. KDA’s role was to collect the necessary samples and submit them to the lab for testing.”
Several state and federal agencies were involved, the state ag department said.
Laura Voyles, left, with her family. / Photo: Provided Voyles said the farm’s only other option would have been to quarantine the deer for years and hope no further cases appeared. She said the farm kept the deer alive and quarantined for months until the agencies “got their ducks in a row enough to come massacre them.”
“It’s just devastating to know that what you have poured your life into, from just a blood, sweat and tears perspective, in addition to all of the finances that had been poured into it was just gone in a moment,” Voyles said.
Voyles said the initial chronic wasting disease case found last year came from a healthy-appearing female deer, purchased from outside her farm, that was harvested for meat and subsequently tested. She said she was skeptical of the positive test results because the Kentucky Department of Agriculture “refused” to allow for third-party testing. A Kentucky Department of Agriculture spokesperson said it had “full confidence” in the testing done at the “nation’s premier facility for livestock disease testing”, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa.
After the first diseased deer was discovered at Voyles’ farm last fall, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources officials responded by putting Breckenridge County and adjoining Meade and Hardin counties into a surveillance zone in an effort to block spread of the disease. Hunters who take deer in those three counties are required to have the animals tested for chronic wasting disease, and only specific parts — deboned meat, a clean skull with no brain tissue, cleaned teeth, hides, antlers and finished taxidermy mounts — can be taken out of the surveillance zone.
The only other confirmed wasting disease in Kentucky is an isolated case discovered in 2023 in a wild deer in Ballard County.
A bill stalls to add deer farm regulations
Earlier this year, legislation was introduced in Frankfort aimed at containing the disease. The bill died after opposition from a vocal deer farming industry that views deer as a form of agriculture and an income source.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Commissioner Rich Storm told lawmakers that the measure was “critically important” to protect not only the state’s deer population but also the elk herd that has rebounded in Eastern Kentucky. He said tourism generated by hunting brings in billions of dollars every year.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, would have expanded the radius of a surveillance zone when chronic wasting disease is detected in a wild deer or on a deer farm. It also would have halted the transfer of captive deer within and from areas where a case is found on a deer farm. Deer farms could have been exempted from the restrictions by surrounding themselves with a second fence to prevent wild deer from interacting with captive deer. The bill advanced out of a committee but didn’t receive a vote by the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Deer inside a fenced enclosure on Laura Voyles’ deer farm. / Photo: Provided One of the main ways deer farms make money is by selling deer with desirable genetics, such as large antlers, to private preserves for people to hunt and to other deer farms. A desirable buck may sell for thousands of dollars.
Jason Becker, president of the Kentucky Alternative Livestock Association that represents deer farmers, disputes the need for new limits on deer farms. “Most concerns over the spread of CWD relating to deer farms are completely unfounded,” Becker told the Lantern, adding that requiring a second fence would be financially burdensome.
Debates over how to control chronic wasting disease — and the role of deer farms — have been heated in other states. Wildlife biologists interviewed by the Kentucky Lantern agree that requiring a second fence on deer farms would protect the wild deer population, though these biologists also acknowledged more is still being learned about how the disease is spread.
The unknowns of chronic wasting disease
Rep. Bray, sponsor of this year’s deer farm bill, said he grew up a hunter and sees deer on his farm. The unknowns of what chronic wasting disease could mean not only for hunting, but even potentially for public health, worry him.
“The idea that I have to be scared of a natural resource like that causing damage to my family’s health — that’s not acceptable,” Bray said, referring to concerns about chronic wasting disease potentially infecting species other than cervids.
Recent research has shown the prions that infect deer can change to become infectious in humans, the fear being it could cause Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a fatal prion disease, in people. Another study from 2024, though, found the likelihood of chronic wasting disease crossing over and infecting humans was low. Prions are abnormal proteins that can harm neurons and cause brain damage that has no cure.
FRANKFORT, Feb. 22– Rep. Joshua Bray, R-Mount Vernon, presents House Bill 153 an Act relating to prohibiting the enforcement of a federal ban or regulation of firearms and declaring an emergency. / Photo: LRC Public Information Bray, who favors requiring a second fence for deer farms, points to the broad spread of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin as something Kentucky should be trying to avoid.
“I just think some really common sense, simple things can be done to provide additional protection. You know, we’ve got one shot at it. Once it’s in the wild population, it’s in there,” Bray said.
Matthew Springer, an associate extension professor of wildlife management at the University of Kentucky, told the Kentucky Lantern he collaborated with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in 2020 to study fence lines of several deer farms to see interactions between wild deer and captive deer.
“We had noted several interactions of various levels, including direct contact between individuals through the fence,” Springer said.
He said requiring two fences around deer farms “greatly reduces” the risk of interaction but comes at an “extreme cost” for deer farms. He said the Kentucky chapter of the Wildlife Society, which represents wildlife biologists, sent a letter of support for Bray’s bill.
Some sportspeople view deer farming and private hunting preserves as unethical, Springer said. But deer farms are not the sole cause of chronic wasting disease spread, he said.
“There’s a lot of very good deer farmers that are out there trying to abide by all the regulations and do the best they can to protect both their resource and the wild resource,” Springer said.
A ‘national security threat’
Some states have taken stronger measures beyond requiring two fences on deer farms. Minnesota lawmakers placed a moratorium on new deer farms, and deer farmers sued, arguing it violated their economic liberty.
The moratorium was implemented following a 2022 report from Minnesota wildlife management officials that cited the transport of deer between deer farms as a reason chronic wasting disease cases were appearing hundreds of miles apart.
Becker, the president of the Kentucky association representing deer farmers, argued the restrictions placed or proposed on deer farms ultimately don’t stop the spread of chronic wasting disease, given its spread in wild deer. He also said deer farms in Kentucky have to follow a number of regulations already. That includes a state ban on bringing whole deer carcasses or “high-risk” parts of a deer from other states, quarterly inspections of deer farms by state agriculture officials, required state permits and required testing of any deer that dies on a farm over one year old.
“No state has passed a law that has effectively limited the spread of CWD in their state,” Becker said. “It’s not a farm deer problem. It is a deer problem.”
Becker instead pointed to efforts in Oklahoma to develop deer that are genetically “resistant” to chronic wasting disease. Wildlife biologists interviewed by the Kentucky Lantern are skeptical of efforts to create “resistant” deer.
Peter Larsen, a co-director of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach at the University of Minnesota, said a “genetic background” of deer can make chronic wasting disease develop more slowly.
“But there’s other research that shows that those animals are still shedding prions. It could be at a lower level, but they’re still positive and they’re still shedding it,” Larsen said. “There is not enough data available to justify that approach.”
Larsen considers chronic wasting disease a “national security threat” because of the potential accumulation of prions in the environment and the potential for species spillover. He said the prions can be absorbed by plants; data shows prions can combine with dust particles, be carried in the wind and accumulate in agricultural commodities.
“You have a lot of prions accumulating in the environment. And where does that go?” Larsen said. “We need to get aggressive on it.”
https://www.citybeat.com/news/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/09/08/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
by Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern September 8, 2025
Do deer farms increase the risk that wild deer like this buck will contract a contagious and deadly neurological disease? Opinions differ. / Photo: Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
A disease outbreak on a Kentucky deer farm is renewing questions about whether stronger rules are needed for the more than 100 “captive cervid facilities” the state has permitted.
State and federal agencies recently confirmed eight cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at a deer farm in Breckinridge County where the illness had first been detected in a single deer in October 2024.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal prion disorder similar to mad cow disease. Only 10 cases have been confirmed in Kentucky — nine of them on the Breckinridge County farm — out of 40,000 tests since 2002. But the disease’s spread in other states has made preventing it a priority for wildlife managers nationwide because it causes population declines in deer and elk when prevalent.
Much about the neurological condition — dubbed “zombie deer disease” — is unknown. In deer, it causes significant weight loss, listlessness and death. A deer can appear healthy and have CWD for months or years before symptoms appear. Research has produced conflicting conclusions on the risk of it spreading to humans.
In Breckinridge County, more than 100 captive deer were killed in early July at Sinking Creek Whitetails, said co-owner Laura Voyles, whose family started the deer farm in 2020. A Kentucky Department of Agriculture statement said the “depopulation was carried out” at the request of the owner “to protect animal health and prevent further spread. KDA’s role was to collect the necessary samples and submit them to the lab for testing.”
Several state and federal agencies were involved, the state ag department said.
Laura Voyles, left, with her family. / Photo: Provided Voyles said the farm’s only other option would have been to quarantine the deer for years and hope no further cases appeared. She said the farm kept the deer alive and quarantined for months until the agencies “got their ducks in a row enough to come massacre them.”
“It’s just devastating to know that what you have poured your life into, from just a blood, sweat and tears perspective, in addition to all of the finances that had been poured into it was just gone in a moment,” Voyles said.
Voyles said the initial chronic wasting disease case found last year came from a healthy-appearing female deer, purchased from outside her farm, that was harvested for meat and subsequently tested. She said she was skeptical of the positive test results because the Kentucky Department of Agriculture “refused” to allow for third-party testing. A Kentucky Department of Agriculture spokesperson said it had “full confidence” in the testing done at the “nation’s premier facility for livestock disease testing”, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa.
After the first diseased deer was discovered at Voyles’ farm last fall, Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources officials responded by putting Breckenridge County and adjoining Meade and Hardin counties into a surveillance zone in an effort to block spread of the disease. Hunters who take deer in those three counties are required to have the animals tested for chronic wasting disease, and only specific parts — deboned meat, a clean skull with no brain tissue, cleaned teeth, hides, antlers and finished taxidermy mounts — can be taken out of the surveillance zone.
The only other confirmed wasting disease in Kentucky is an isolated case discovered in 2023 in a wild deer in Ballard County.
A bill stalls to add deer farm regulations
Earlier this year, legislation was introduced in Frankfort aimed at containing the disease. The bill died after opposition from a vocal deer farming industry that views deer as a form of agriculture and an income source.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Commissioner Rich Storm told lawmakers that the measure was “critically important” to protect not only the state’s deer population but also the elk herd that has rebounded in Eastern Kentucky. He said tourism generated by hunting brings in billions of dollars every year.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, would have expanded the radius of a surveillance zone when chronic wasting disease is detected in a wild deer or on a deer farm. It also would have halted the transfer of captive deer within and from areas where a case is found on a deer farm. Deer farms could have been exempted from the restrictions by surrounding themselves with a second fence to prevent wild deer from interacting with captive deer. The bill advanced out of a committee but didn’t receive a vote by the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Deer inside a fenced enclosure on Laura Voyles’ deer farm. / Photo: Provided One of the main ways deer farms make money is by selling deer with desirable genetics, such as large antlers, to private preserves for people to hunt and to other deer farms. A desirable buck may sell for thousands of dollars.
Jason Becker, president of the Kentucky Alternative Livestock Association that represents deer farmers, disputes the need for new limits on deer farms. “Most concerns over the spread of CWD relating to deer farms are completely unfounded,” Becker told the Lantern, adding that requiring a second fence would be financially burdensome.
Debates over how to control chronic wasting disease — and the role of deer farms — have been heated in other states. Wildlife biologists interviewed by the Kentucky Lantern agree that requiring a second fence on deer farms would protect the wild deer population, though these biologists also acknowledged more is still being learned about how the disease is spread.
The unknowns of chronic wasting disease
Rep. Bray, sponsor of this year’s deer farm bill, said he grew up a hunter and sees deer on his farm. The unknowns of what chronic wasting disease could mean not only for hunting, but even potentially for public health, worry him.
“The idea that I have to be scared of a natural resource like that causing damage to my family’s health — that’s not acceptable,” Bray said, referring to concerns about chronic wasting disease potentially infecting species other than cervids.
Recent research has shown the prions that infect deer can change to become infectious in humans, the fear being it could cause Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a fatal prion disease, in people. Another study from 2024, though, found the likelihood of chronic wasting disease crossing over and infecting humans was low. Prions are abnormal proteins that can harm neurons and cause brain damage that has no cure.
FRANKFORT, Feb. 22– Rep. Joshua Bray, R-Mount Vernon, presents House Bill 153 an Act relating to prohibiting the enforcement of a federal ban or regulation of firearms and declaring an emergency. / Photo: LRC Public Information Bray, who favors requiring a second fence for deer farms, points to the broad spread of chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin as something Kentucky should be trying to avoid.
“I just think some really common sense, simple things can be done to provide additional protection. You know, we’ve got one shot at it. Once it’s in the wild population, it’s in there,” Bray said.
Matthew Springer, an associate extension professor of wildlife management at the University of Kentucky, told the Kentucky Lantern he collaborated with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources in 2020 to study fence lines of several deer farms to see interactions between wild deer and captive deer.
“We had noted several interactions of various levels, including direct contact between individuals through the fence,” Springer said.
He said requiring two fences around deer farms “greatly reduces” the risk of interaction but comes at an “extreme cost” for deer farms. He said the Kentucky chapter of the Wildlife Society, which represents wildlife biologists, sent a letter of support for Bray’s bill.
Some sportspeople view deer farming and private hunting preserves as unethical, Springer said. But deer farms are not the sole cause of chronic wasting disease spread, he said.
“There’s a lot of very good deer farmers that are out there trying to abide by all the regulations and do the best they can to protect both their resource and the wild resource,” Springer said.
A ‘national security threat’
Some states have taken stronger measures beyond requiring two fences on deer farms. Minnesota lawmakers placed a moratorium on new deer farms, and deer farmers sued, arguing it violated their economic liberty.
The moratorium was implemented following a 2022 report from Minnesota wildlife management officials that cited the transport of deer between deer farms as a reason chronic wasting disease cases were appearing hundreds of miles apart.
Becker, the president of the Kentucky association representing deer farmers, argued the restrictions placed or proposed on deer farms ultimately don’t stop the spread of chronic wasting disease, given its spread in wild deer. He also said deer farms in Kentucky have to follow a number of regulations already. That includes a state ban on bringing whole deer carcasses or “high-risk” parts of a deer from other states, quarterly inspections of deer farms by state agriculture officials, required state permits and required testing of any deer that dies on a farm over one year old.
“No state has passed a law that has effectively limited the spread of CWD in their state,” Becker said. “It’s not a farm deer problem. It is a deer problem.”
Becker instead pointed to efforts in Oklahoma to develop deer that are genetically “resistant” to chronic wasting disease. Wildlife biologists interviewed by the Kentucky Lantern are skeptical of efforts to create “resistant” deer.
Peter Larsen, a co-director of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach at the University of Minnesota, said a “genetic background” of deer can make chronic wasting disease develop more slowly.
“But there’s other research that shows that those animals are still shedding prions. It could be at a lower level, but they’re still positive and they’re still shedding it,” Larsen said. “There is not enough data available to justify that approach.”
Larsen considers chronic wasting disease a “national security threat” because of the potential accumulation of prions in the environment and the potential for species spillover. He said the prions can be absorbed by plants; data shows prions can combine with dust particles, be carried in the wind and accumulate in agricultural commodities.
“You have a lot of prions accumulating in the environment. And where does that go?” Larsen said. “We need to get aggressive on it.”
https://www.citybeat.com/news/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
https://kentuckylantern.com/2025/09/08/deer-farm-herd-killed-to-stem-spread-of-zombie-deer-disease-in-kentucky-now-what/
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