CONTACT:
Becky Fuda: 603-744-5470
Andy Timmins: 603-271-1742
November 9, 2026
Concord, NH – The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) has announced that chronic wasting disease (CWD) was recently detected in a hunter-harvested deer taken in the town of Sparta in western New York. NYDEC had previously detected CWD in captive and wild deer in Oneida County in 2005 and in captive deer in Herkimer County in 2024. This recent detection marks the first time in over two decades that CWD has been confirmed in a wild deer in New York.
To protect New Hampshire’s deer herd, hunters who travel out-of-state to deer hunt MUST follow carcass importation regulations and stay up-to-date on the latest list of CWD-positive jurisdictions. New Hampshire hunters who travel to CWD-positive jurisdictions (listed below) are required to follow the mandatory regulations when bringing home any cervid carcasses. Hunters may legally bring back ONLY deboned meat, antlers, upper canine teeth, hides or capes with no part of the head attached, and finished taxidermy mounts. Antlers attached to skull caps or canine teeth must have all soft tissue removed.
To date, CWD has been detected in wild or captive cervids in 37 states and 5 Canadian provinces including: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. To view the most current map of CWD-positive jurisdictions, visit www.wildlife.nh.gov/wildlife-and-habitat/wildlife-related-diseases/deer-diseases.
CWD is a fatal neurological disease that impacts deer, moose, and other members of the deer family (cervids). CWD is not the result of a virus or bacteria. It is caused by abnormal proteins called prions that attack the brains of infected animals. These infectious prions are most likely transmitted through physical contact (such as nose to nose), infected feed, or environmental contamination, for example, through feces or urine. Abnormal prions tend to be most concentrated in nervous system tissue such as the brain or spinal cord or in lymphatic tissue such as lymph nodes.
New Hampshire Fish and Game has tested over 9,000 deer since 2002 and has never detected CWD in our deer herd. Fish and Game seeks to prevent the introduction of the disease into the state through carcass importation restrictions. Furthermore, Fish and Game prohibits the importation of live CWD-susceptible cervids into the state and also discourages hunters from using urine-based lures. These natural lures are sometimes manufactured in states where CWD is present and could contain infectious prions, which present risks for spreading the disease to new areas.
