Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a serious concern throughout the united states

CWD affects captive and wild cervids and involves complex rules and regulations at local, state, and federal levels to prevent and contain its spread. While USDA provides requirements for states participating in the national CWD herd certification program (HCP), each state manages the prevention and control of CWD differently. Educating cervid producers as well as the veterinarians and regulatory agency personnel who serve them on best practices, testing methodologies, sample submission instructions, and requirements for participation in USDA's CWD HCP is vital to controlling CWD. This project will leverage resources already developed for iowa, kansas, michigan, missouri, nebraska, north dakota, and texas so that free, engaging, online training can continue to be offered to stakeholders in these states and expanded to provide similar outreach in six more CWD-affected states: illinois, indiana, ohio, oklahoma, pennsylvania, and tennessee. In the attached letters of support, these states highlight the importance of educating producers and veterinarians in their efforts to contain CWD. Using an efficient, thoughtful, and user-oriented approach, existing materials will be updated and expanded so that uniform training on CWD and USDA's CWD HCP can be offered alongside customizable state-specific requirements in 13 of 28 (46%) states currently participating in the national CWD HCP. This project will provide standardized training of cervid producers, veterinary personnel, and regulatory agency officials by working with the six 2024 states to develop their state-specific training and seven 2023 states to update their state-specific information as well as conducting a literature review and analyzing course use data and feedback. Course content includes information on CWD disease transmission and prevention, cervid husbandry and biosecurity, USDA's CWD HCP, instructional sampling procedures, and each participating state's farmed cervid CWD program requirements. These educational materials will be available through online and printed formats on the cfsph website, which is a trusted source of animal health information for this project's target audience. The materials will also be linked from each state agency's website so that information can be readily accessed in plain language from different sources. The sharing of information in multiple ways will be useful for all states to disseminate uniform, trusted, and timely training to all necessary stakeholders.