ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Department of Natural Resources says a second deer harvested in western Maryland has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
Officials announced that a lab test recently confirmed the disease in a female white-tailed deer killed during firearm season in Allegany County in December.
It is the second positive sample of nearly 7,500 deer tested in Maryland since 1999. The first, also in Allegany County, was reported in 2011. More than 20 states and Canadian provinces have documented the disease in deer, elk or moose.
Maryland's sampling efforts have been focused in Allegany and western Washington counties since 2010 because of the presence of the disease in nearby West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania. There is no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans, livestock or other animals.
