BILLINGS – Montana recorded its first suspected case of chronic wasting disease in wild elk Monday. The cow elk was harvested by a landowner on private land northeast of Red Lodge earlier this month and samples were extracted from the carcass in Billings Nov. 6. Tests results confirming the suspected presence of the disease were returned to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the hunter on Monday.

CWD was found in a herd of captive game-farm elk near Philipsburg in 1999 and the herd was depopulated. Until this week, however, the disease had not been found in wild elk in Montana.

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