ONEIDA, N.Y. (AP) – Chronic wasting disease has been found in a white-tailed doe from a captive herd in Oneida County, marking the first time the fatal malady has been detected in New York, state officials said Thursday.

“Our immediate focus is on identifying the source. That’s critical,” said state Agriculture and Markets Department spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden. “This is not a public health threat, but it is a slow-moving animal health threat.”

The Oneida County herd was quarantined and the remaining 16 animals will be killed and tested. The detection of the disease in New York state is the first discovery of the ailment outside the Midwest or Rocky Mountain regions.

Chronic wasting disease – or CWD – is a degenerative neurological illness that is deadly to some deer and elk species in North America. There is no evidence that CWD is harmful to humans or other domestic livestock.

The disease was first recognized in 1967 in mule deer in a wildlife research facility in northern Colorado, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The first positive detection in a captive elk herd in the United States was made in 1997 in South Dakota, prompting federal officials to establish a nationwide monitoring program.

To date, the disease has been detected in wild and captive deer and elk populations in 12 states, including Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. It also has been found in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.

Scientists don’t know how the disease is transmitted among animals. Symptoms of the disease include weight loss, stumbling, tremors, lack of coordination and listlessness, according to the USDA.

State agricultural officials said the animal that tested positive was a 6-year-old white-tailed doe that was slaughtered from a captive herd in Oneida County as part of the state’s mandatory monitoring program. State officials did not identify the herd owner.

The state also quarantined six other herds associated with the infected doe, and is trying to determine if other animals came into contact with the so-called index herd, Chittenden said.

Additionally, the state Department of Environmental Conservation will monitor the wild deer population in the area to ensure that none had contact with the captive index herd, she said.

There are 433 farms in New York state raising 9,600 deer and elk in captivity, according to the state agriculture department. The DEC estimates there are one million wild deer in New York.