California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) officials reported the state’s first case of COVID-19 detected in free-ranging wildlife was found in a mule deer from El Dorado County.
The mule deer, a buck, was killed by a hunter in 2021. A sample was taken by the state department and tested for chronic wasting disease, but that came back negative.
The CDFW later heard about reports of the virus in free-ranging white-tailed deer and mule deer in other states and Canadian provinces. The department then tested multiple samples of deer lymph nodes for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. All of the samples had been collected as part of the wasting disease surveillance effort….