Conservation officials say a deer that tested positive for chronic wasting disease was found only 25 miles from an elk herd at Peck Ranch in southern Missouri.
Jasmine Batten, wildlife disease coordinator for the Missouri Department of Conservation, says the discovery is a concern because it was so close to the ranch, which holds an elk herd reintroduced to the state at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Springfield News-Leader reports the infected deer was the first dead wild deer that wasn't shot by hunters that tested positive for the wasting disease, a contagious disease that is always fatal.
The department will follow containment procedures in Oregon County, meaning many deer within two miles of where the infected deer was found will be killed, with landowner consent.