ICL Wildlife Program Associate Jeff Abrams on CWD Risks

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological condition – a prion like mad cow disease or scrapie – that affects members of the deer and elk family, known as cervids or cervidae. In February, the Idaho Conservation League sent a letter to state lawmakers and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, outlining concerns with documented biosecurity lapses at several domestic elk farms across the state, flagging the possibility of chronic wasting disease transmission between wild and domestic cervids. ICL Wildlife Program Associate Jeff Abrams sat down last week to discuss in depth. State Department of Agriculture Director Chanel Tewalt laid out ISDA’s view of the situation in a letter of her own that Friday responding to Abrams and ICL’s concerns, which Idaho Reports obtained through a public records request.