<< Back 6/12/02 Chronic wasting disease not cause of recent elk deaths SMN Biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have decided that the three elk that died shortly after being released from an acclimation pen died of emaciation. Their conclusion was based upon results of necropsies at the Univer-sity of Tenn-essee College of Veterinary Medicine, including a screening for Chronic Was-ting Disease (CWD), which came back negative. “I have received the results of the microscopic screening of the dead animals’ brain tissue from the Colorado State Diagnostic Lab at Ft. Collins and the animals did not die of CWD. The brains of elk infected with CWD show a characteristic spongy appearance, but the brains of these elk were normal,” said Dr. John New at UT, who provides the park with veterinary oversight on the five-year experimental elk release project. The animals were brought into the Cataloochee area of the Park in January from Alberta, Canada, a trip of about 2,500 miles. Prior to being brought into the U.S. the herd was screened for brucelosis and tuberculosis and were negative for both. However, there is still no screening process to detect CWD in live animals, so the Park chose to get its elk from a CWD-free population contained in a 30,000 acre enclosure at Elk Island National Park. Kim DeLozier, Chief Wildlife Biologist at the Smokies, said, “Ruling out CWD or other detectable disease as causes of death leaves us with the conclusion that these three animals just did not eat during their 11-week confinement in the acclimation pen. Animals are individuals with their own responses to the stress of transportation, handling, and captivity, but fortunately the rest of the herd did not respond in that way and are doing fine.”