Elk Refuge CWD discovery prompts calls to reduce Jackson herd

The discovery of chronic wasting disease on the National Elk Refuge north of Jackson, Wyoming, has prompted renewed scrutiny of how the state manages the nation’s largest migratory herd and how the refuge operates its elk feeding and related traditions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed Monday that a cow elk killed after being found ailing on April 15 tested positive, marking the first case of the always-fatal illness in an elk on the refuge.

Officials said the process began when field workers collected biological samples and sent them to a Wyoming Game and Fish Department laboratory. A second lab confirmed the results before federal and state officials publicly announced the infection on Monday.

The agencies’ joint response emphasized further surveillance and tightened precautions. In a joint statement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department said National Elk Refuge staff would “increase monitoring and surveillance of herds for CWD, re-evaluate some existing programs and implement additional bio-security protocols to keep people and wildlife safe.”

Chronic wasting disease is caused by a malformed protein, or prion, and is transmissible among ungulates, with the infectious agent persisting in the environment. The AP report said prions are destroyed only by very high temperatures or by precise chemical applications, including bleach, and that researchers have said scientists suspect it could cross to humans under certain exposure routes, such as people consuming muscle meat from infected animals.

The discovery also arrives as Wyoming’s agencies face questions about how CWD could spread when elk concentrate around managed food sources. The National Elk Refuge supplies supplemental feed to wintering elk, and Wyoming Game and Fish operates 21 feedgrounds west of the Continental Divide. The AP report said concentration at feedgrounds is believed to promote CWD’s spread.

A key element of the discussion centers on the Jackson Elk Herd, which Wyoming Game and Fish called “one of the largest and most well-known elk herds in North America” with “significant ecological, cultural, and economic value for Western Wyoming.” Although Game and Fish tested some elk from the refuge after the 2025 hunting season, the case on the refuge adds pressure to revisit how management decisions affect both animal health and regional practices.

Lloyd Dorsey, an environmental activist who has lived in Teton County for 50 years surrounded by elk feedgrounds, said Monday that the disease’s arrival was “not unexpected,” but he criticized officials for allowing feeding programs to continue for as long as they have. Dorsey said CWD’s arrival “is a shame” and added that agencies “could have, should have, been phased out long, long ago.”

The AP report said officials did not immediately answer questions about whether the case so close to Jackson threatens the town’s water supply. It said the municipality draws drinking water from several wells on the south end of the refuge, where officials identified the ailing elk and euthanized it in accordance with protocol.

The new case also renews attention to a 2021 strategy that state and federal officials plan to use as a framework for possible changes to herd and refuge management. The AP report said the strategy calls on the federal agency to request Wyoming consider decreasing population objectives for the Jackson herd and recommends the agencies review the refuge’s traditional antler collection overseen by Scouting America scouts, along with the sale of thousands of pounds of antlers each year.

The AP report said some of those antlers are used as nutritional supplements, while others are crafted into items and sold as chewies for dogs. Under the refuge strategy, hunters who use horses are told to pick their horses’ hooves before trailering animals off the refuge, and the plan also calls for protective personal gear and the incineration of parts of elk that die on the refuge.

The infection news comes as Wyoming Game and Fish has also reported other recent detections at state feedgrounds. The AP report said Game and Fish detected CWD at the Muddy Creek feedground at the southwestern end of the Wind River Range on May 4, making it the fifth state feedground where the disease has been discovered. The agency described that discovery as the result of a grid search for elk skulls containing testable brain matter conducted after the end of the feeding season.

In the current winter’s operations, the AP report said National Elk Refuge biologist Eric Cole reported a high count of 6,970 elk on the 24,700-acre refuge. The report added that, because of a lack of snow, refuge workers did not dispense supplemental feed to the herd, marking one of 11 winters since 1912 when no feed was distributed. The Jackson herd remains heavily tied to the refuge for wintering, and the disease has already been detected in an elk killed in Grand Teton National Park—raising concerns that it can move through the broader landscape as animals migrate.

Sources cited in the AP report noted that state and federal officials were not available for interviews and instead pointed to the refuge response strategy adopted in 2021, which is now expected to guide the next steps following the case confirmation on the refuge.