CWD Found in Two Parks

Chronic wasting disease is the deer version of a brain disease that slowly punches holes in the nervous system, and park staff just found it for the first time in deer at Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland and for the first time in 2026 at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. At Catoctin, two white-tailed deer tested positive during recent deer reduction work, and the National Park Service announced the result on April 9, 2026. (nps.gov) This disease is not caused by a virus or bacteria. It is caused by a misshapen protein called a prion, which works like a bad origami template that makes other proteins fold the wrong way too, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the disease is always fatal in infected animals. (cdc.gov) A deer can carry chronic wasting disease for months or years before it looks sick. Maryland wildlife officials say early infections often show no visible signs, and later stages can bring weight loss, drooling, stumbling, trembling, and loss of fear of humans. (dnr.maryland.gov) That long silent period is why these cases were found in testing, not by tourists spotting obviously sick deer on a trail. Both parks said the positives came from deer reduction operations followed by disease sampling, which is the wildlife equivalent of a routine lab check catching a problem before the whole neighborhood can see it. (nps.gov 1) (nps.gov 2) Catoctin is not an isolated dot on the map. The National Park Service said three nearby parks — Antietam National Battlefield, Monocacy National Battlefield, and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park — got their first positive deer in 2024, and Gettysburg followed in 2026. (nps.gov) Gettysburg’s March 5, 2026 announcement said two deer tested positive during reduction operations at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site. The park called it Gettysburg’s first confirmed case and said it is coordinating with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and National Park Service biologists on monitoring and response. (nps.gov) The reason parks are already doing deer reduction is separate from the disease itself. Catoctin said it cuts deer numbers to protect native plants, rebuild healthier forests, and preserve historic landscapes, because too many deer can browse young trees and wildflowers down to stubs. (nps.gov) Hunters around these parks are part of the picture because state wildlife agencies use harvest rules and testing zones to track spread. Pennsylvania says chronic wasting disease was first found in the state’s free-ranging white-tailed deer in 2012, and Maryland’s management area now covers seven counties, including Frederick County where Catoctin sits. (pa.gov) (eregulations.com) There is still no reported case of chronic wasting disease in a person, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hunters should not eat meat from an animal that tests positive. At Catoctin, the venison from both infected deer was destroyed after testing. (cdc.gov) (nationalparkstraveler.org) What changed this week is not that the disease suddenly appeared out of nowhere. What changed is that another gap on the Mid-Atlantic park map closed, with Catoctin joining a cluster of nearby federal sites where infected deer have now been confirmed. (nps.gov)