Chronic Wasting Disease Information

Guidance to NJ Residents Who Hunt Deer, Elk or Moose in States Where CWD is Present (Updated 8/21/16)
Urine-Based Deer Lures Advisory

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) of mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk and white-tailed deer causes fatal damage to the central nervous system. Surveys of New Jersey deer harvested in several deer seasons have found no evidence of the disease. Based on those surveys, if CWD was present in our state we are 99% confident it was in less than 1% of the adult deer at that time (without testing all of the animals in a population it is statistically impossible to say a disease is not there).

Since there is concern among hunters and others about the disease spreading to New Jersey, a "Questions and Answers" document about CWD was created by the Division's Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics and is regularly updated. Links to information about the disease and the surveys are below.

Chronic Wasting Disease FAQs (pdf, 120kb) Updated December, 2017

Chronic Wasting Disease Survey Information, 1997-2017 (pdf, 550kb) Updated December, 2017

Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan 2013 (pdf, 223kb)

Notice Regarding Possession/Importation of Live Cervids (pdf, 210kb) Updated December, 2018

Chronic Wasting Disease Functional Prion Genotype Survey, 2006 (pdf, 260kb)

For more information on chronic wasting disease, its management and related diseases visit the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance's web site.