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Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 33 Monitoring wildlife diseases in Nebraska In 2023, Nebraska Game and Parks conducted wildlife disease response and surveillance, including: • Chronic Wasting Disease – Found in deer, CWD surveillance continued with focus on the Sandhills, Keya Paha, Calamus West, Calamus East and Loup West deer management units of north-central Nebraska. Detections in these units are expected to be stable to slightly higher than previous surveillance efforts. • Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease virus/Bluetongue virus – EHD losses to deer were noted more in the northeast part of the state but less overall compared to the previous two years. • Meningeal brainworm – Surveillance of this disease was reinitiated in the Sandhills and Plains deer management units to evaluate the spread of this parasite westward across the state. • High Pathogenic Avian Influenza – Occurrence of this disease was light in 2023 compared to the previous year. Waterfowl and raptors were the most affected species over the past two years. • Rabies virus – A rare raccoon strain of the rabies virus was detected in a domestic kitten in Omaha in October, creating an intensive surveillance and vaccination effort within a 62-square- mile area in the city. The United States Department of Agriculture, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the Douglas County Health Department, the Nebraska Humane Society, Wildlife Rescue/Rehabilitation and Game and Parks collaboratively responded to this event. This raccoon strain was not detected in any additional domestic or wildlife species and surveillance was suspended on Dec. 31, 2023. • Bacterial pneumonia – This disease has plagued bighorn sheep recovery efforts in Nebraska and across the country for decades. In 2023, during the bighorn capture season, three disease detection methods were evaluated for use in the field and compared to the proven laboratory standards. The portable Biomeme, Polymerase chain reaction unit and Working Dogs for Conservation were used for field testing and compared to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory validated testing method. Further evaluation is planned in 2024. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease continued to affect white-tailed deer in 2023.