What Is Zombie Deer Disease (Chronic Wasting Disease)?

Where It Occurs

Currently, experts have identified zombie deer disease in free-range deer populations in twenty-four states and two Canadian provinces. In the United States, Western states such as Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and Utah have a particularly high prevalence of this condition, and it has been reported in Eastern states such as Pennsylvania and New York too. The disease can only be diagnosed by testing brain tissue after an animal's death, so current methods will only indicate where the disease was in the recent past, not necessarily everywhere it might be at any given moment. Since free-range deer often travel forty miles or more, infected animals could spread the disease in their feces and urine, and any disease transmission that occurs in this way would not be picked up by existing tracking methods. In terms of other places where it occurs, zombie deer disease has also been identified in Norway and South Korea. Some outbreaks of chronic wasting disease have been traced to holiday petting zoos; reindeer are often transported to other countries for these.

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