Once steady, Chronic Wasting Disease on the rise in the Black Hills

What’s different about the Black Hills? That’s a question wildlife biologists don’t yet have an answer to, but it could prove significant in the fight against Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

“The Black Hills is really unique,” says Hank Edwards, Wildlife Health Laboratory Supervisor for Wyoming Game & Fish. CWD was identified here in the early 2000s, but then “nothing happened.”

In other parts of Wyoming, cases of CWD began to increase pretty dramatically after it had been identified; reports indicate that some areas, such as around Yellowstone National Park, are now seeing sig...