Help keep Arizona's herds healthy
The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) encourages all deer and elk hunters to help keep Arizona's herds healthy by attending one of our upcoming workshops about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal wildlife disease that affects the nervous system of cervids.
A total of nine workshops will be conducted at AZGFD headquarters and regional offices across the state. All workshops will include a brief PowerPoint presentation, followed by an outdoor demonstration on how to collect and submit lymph nodes and/or the obex, a portion of the lower brainstem, for testing. Each workshop will last approximately one hour. There also will be opportunities to speak with wildlife health personnel.
You can also sign up by sending an email to ssizer@azgfd.gov. Please include the following info: name, phone number and email address for each registrant, as well as preferred workshop date and location.
Here are the CWD Workshop days and times (with links to Google Maps directions):
August Workshops
- Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. AZGFD Tucson Regional Office
- Saturday, Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Flagstaff Regional Office
- Saturday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Phoenix Headquarters
- Saturday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Tucson Regional Office
September Workshops
- Saturday, Sept. 5 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Pinetop Regional Office
- Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. AZGFD Flagstaff Regional Office
- Saturday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Kingman Regional Office
- Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. AZGFD Mesa Regional Office
- Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. AZGFD Yuma Regional Office
Interested in volunteering?
Working to keep Arizona's herds healthy is a big job—we'd love to have your help!
As a volunteer, you might give us a hand with:
- Collecting samples at check stations and participating businesses
- Educating hunters about CWD
- Public education and sample collection at hunt camps
- Transporting samples
- Preparing samples for submission
No matter which job you help with, you'll be making a positive impact on Arizona's deer and elk populations. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Almost 30 years of monitoring
AZGFD has been testing for the presence of CWD in Arizona since 1998 and has tested more than 30,000 samples. While the disease has been found in the neighboring states of California, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado, it has not been detected in Arizona. CWD has not been documented to cause disease in people.