LINCOLN, Neb. – With a couple of the elk seasons underway and more approaching, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is asking for elk hunters’ cooperation in testing for chronic wasting disease.

Todd Nordeen, Commission big game disease and research program manager, said staff at check stations will be asking elk hunters to allow removal of lymph nodes from elk to test for the disease, frequently referred to by its initials -- CWD.

The tests at the Nebraska Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have about a two-week turn-around, and staff will notify hunters if their animals tested positive for CWD. As a new service this year all test results will be posted to links at the bottom of the Commission’s website devoted to the disease --outdoornebraska.org/cwd. The site contains a wealth of other information about the disease, which is caused by a deformed protein called a prion and passed from some animals to others.

Archery bull season for elk began Sept. 1, following the cow season for private land hunters Aug. 15. The harvest for cows on public land and firearm bull season begin Sept. 21.

Nordeen said staff also will be collecting lymph nodes from deer during the firearm season for that species in November.