The Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced that the state's big game carcass dumpster program is expanding to new communities including Tensleep, Sundance, and Hulett, with funding support from the Wyoming Chapter of the Dallas Safari Club and the Gillette-based Wyoming Sportsman's Group.
The program, which has been expanding for several years, aims to facilitate proper carcass disposal and reduce the spread of chronic wasting disease. Chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease of the central nervous system affecting mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and moose. Infected carcasses can transmit the disease to healthy animals and contaminate environments, further spreading it.
Under state regulations, hunters must dispose of big game carcasses according to specific rules. After all legally-defined edible meat portions are removed from the field, the remaining carcass may be left at the harvest site. However, if a carcass is transported away from the harvest site for processing, it must be disposed of in an approved landfill. The dumpsters, which are emptied regularly by sanitation companies into approved landfills, allow hunters to comply with these requirements.
The Bureau of Land Management also provides funding for some carcass dumpster locations. It is illegal to dispose of big game carcasses on public or private land (except at the harvest site) or along roadways. Dumpsters are available free of charge, though hunters are asked to dispose only of carcasses and not other garbage. Many municipal landfills also accept carcasses for little or no charge.