Latest News
September 2013
Loveland Reporter-Herald newspaper article about the project: Students help researchers study chronic wasting disease
May 2012
We held our 6th public informational meeting on May 2 at the Livermore Community Hall. A small group of interested citizens attended. You can read the handout from the meeting with preliminary results to date here.
March 2012
On Saturday, March 31, project team members held our 2nd outreach day for local high school students (CWDeers Day). We had thirteen students attend the all-day symposium, where they learned about telemetry and GPS, genetics, veterinary/collaring, and statistics/modeling. The day ended with a visit to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife foothills facility.
February 2012
We held our 3rd yearly deer capture during January 5-6, 8-9, and February 9-14, 2012. One hundred forty-two deer were handled, including 118 surviving does, 17 newly captured bucks, and 7 fawns.
October 2011
The next public informational meeting will be held on Thursday, November 3 at 7 pm at the Livermore Community Hall. We will give an update on the project and answer any questions that may come up. Please join us if you can!
September 2011
On Saturday, October 1, project team members will be holding a outreach day for Rocky Mountain High School students. It is called CWDeers (Chronic Wasting Disease: Enrichment and Experience Research Symposium) Day. CSU students working on the project will introduce the RMHS students to all aspects of the project including, telemetry and GPS, genetics, veterinary/collaring, and statistics/modeling. The day will also include a visit to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife foothills facility. The goal of the day is to get high school students interested in science careers. If successful, we plan to make this an annual event.
March 2011
Check out a video of the January 10, 2011 capture here! QuickTime plug-in is required to view the video. (Video filmed and edited by Dave Swartz.)
February 2011
North Forty News newspaper article on project: Owl Canyon residents protest deer capture techniques
January 2011
North Forty News newspaper article on project: CWD study seeks deer spotters
January 20, 2011
We had around 25 people attend our December 7, 2010 public informational meeting at the Livermore Community Hall. Tom Hobbs gave a project overview and we introduced our new web-based deer reporting form.
May 26, 2010
We had around 35 people attend our May 10, 2010 public informational meeting at the Livermore Community Hall. Please click here to see the handout from the meeting with results-to-date.
March 2010
North Forty News newspaper article on project: Researchers capture more deer for CWD study
March 9, 2010
We have had a very successful start to our research on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the mule deer population of the Laramie Foothills. During January and February 2010, 140 deer were captured. There were no major injuries or mortalities during capture. One hundred twenty-five of the deer were adult does, and fifteen were fawns. Each deer was fit with a radio collar and was sampled for CWD testing and genetic analysis. Four deer out of the 125 adults have tested positive for CWD. We have one more “probable” positive. Based on these data, we estimate that prevalence, the proportion of females that are infected is 3.22% with a confidence interval spanning 1% to 12%. Thus, these data do not allow us to rule out prevalence levels that could be quite high.
There were a small number of deer whose CWD test came back inconclusive. These tests are being redone. Samples for genetic analysis are now being processed.
Two fawns and a doe have died. One of the fawn mortalities was probably related to capture, the other died from causes that we could not determine. One adult doe died of CWD. Two collars have slipped off and were recovered. There are now 135 deer alive with functioning collars. These deer are monitored weekly, and the telemetry has been going well. Most deer can be located by driving public roads.
Once again, we would like to thank our partners in this research: private landowners who have given us permission to work on their land, the City of Fort Collins, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado State University Research Foundation, Larimer County, and The Nature Conservancy. Without their help and cooperation, a project of this magnitude would not be possible.
We are planning a community meeting for early May. We will be in touch soon with details.
February 2, 2010
Due to our success monitoring the first 100 deer with telemetry, we have decided to do a second capture this year. This capture will take place on Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5. We will be putting out about 60 more collars. This will allow us to collect more data over the 5 year project.
January 14, 2010
We had a very successful capture last week--100 deer have been sampled and are now broadcasting radio telemetry data. Quicksilver Air did an amazing job net gunning the deer. We did not have a single major injury or mortality during capture. The many students who helped us received a five star educational experience in return for their generous work in the cold.
Telemetry is going well--we have received "I am alive" signals from 98 of the 100 animals in three days of work and we will seek out the animals that are unaccounted for by the end of January. Most radio signals can be heard from the public roads.
We are now preparing a detailed report on the capture. Please check back toward the end of the month for that.
To all you who helped us get to this point with purchasing, contracting, permitting, permissions, and speaking up on our behalf to your neighbors, our entire team extends a heartfelt thanks.
December 2009
North Forty News newspaper article on project: CSU launches new study on chronic wasting disease