Kudus to the author, Madeline Farber. I would have read another article on CWD, but deadly zombie deer disease, that expands the audience by 100 times, maybe 1000. Deadly Zombie Deer Disease, there's a money making video game there.
I don’t know if it’s viral or a germ. Viruses are hard to kill. The population density of the affected animals seems to be a factor. I know Missouri has had issues as well as other states. Fewer hunters and denser populations I believe contribute to the issues. If the equation gets screwed up nature seems to correct the problem. Hunting the populations down would seem to be more humane than letting the deer die off and rot. IMO