Wildlife and Parks officials are working with dozens of individuals and organizations around the state to collect tissue samples from deer harvested this fall.

The goal is to analyze tissue from 3,200 deer to monitor herd health and to check for any occurrence of chronic wasting disease.

The procedure involves extraction of lymph nodes from the throat of the animal. The samples are then submitted to a Kansas State University laboratory for analysis.

Wildlife and Parks will post sampling results on its Website once lab analysis is completed. Results should be available by late December.

The state’s first documented case of CWD in wild deer occurred in December 2005.

For a list of individuals to contact about submitting deer samples, go to www.kdwp.state.ks.us.