Feeding deer in Bollinger, Cape and Perry counties prohibited soon to help curb spread of CWD

The Missouri Department of Conservation is taking action to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease, or CWD, in deer populations, by expanding its CWD management zone from 41 to 48 counties.

The zone will now include Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal illness infecting deer and other members of the deer family, and a case was discovered last year in Perry County.

CWD is not known to infect humans or livestock, according to the United States Geological Survey�s National Wildlife Health Center�s website, but once it�s established in an area, it is next to impossible to eradicate � caused by misshapen proteins called prions, sanitation efforts such as bleach or fire do not affect it.

Since CWD has no vaccine or cure, and spreads through contact between deer, MDC will require landowners and hunters to stop feeding deer and placing minerals for them, effective July 1.

The Wildlife Code of Missouri prohibits year-round the placement of grain, salt products, minerals and other consumables used to attract deer in a CWD management zone, according to a news release.

However, feed may be placed within 100 feet of any residence or occupied building, or for agricultural purposes including feeding livestock or growing food for crop or livestock, according to the release.

Hunters also will be required to participate in mandatory sampling during the first two days of the statewide gun season, said MDC wildlife regional supervisor Matt Bowyer.

�It will be similar to the old check-station days,� Bowyer said, where hunters were required to bring their harvested deer to a station for processing.

Further prevention efforts will include increased availability of antlerless permits, according to an MDC news release.

Antlerless firearm season also will be extended within the CWD management zone, the release stated, to increase the number of deer harvested.

�We have a protocol that says anytime we get a positive [case of CWD], we draw a 25-mile radius circle. Counties touched by that circle are typically put into a CWD management zone. Those counties then will fall into our mandatory sampling counties for next fall. That intensifies our sampling for that disease around a known positive,� Bowyer said.

�We definitely want to stay on top of this,� he added.

Bowyer said CWD is difficult to manage, and is a major threat to Missouri�s deer population over the long term.

�It progresses slowly, but marches through,� he said.

After deer season closes, he said, MDC will work on targeted culling, he said, in areas of higher CWD concentration.

As to what that concentration might look like, Bowyer said, in Ste. Genevieve County, there were three deer taken that tested positive for CWD, and three more post season.

�Our method has worked really well,� Bowyer said, adding since few cases are found, that means the frequency rate is low.

According to MDC�s website, CWD was first detected in 2010 in captive deer.

MDC confirmed 33 new cases of CWD after testing nearly 24,500 free-ranging Missouri deer last year, the release stated, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 75 since 2010.

Bowyer said he uses an analogy to explain why feeding deer isn�t a good idea in a CWD management zone.

�If you go to a restaurant, and someone has the flu, there�s no guarantee you�ll get sick, just being in the same room,� he said. �But if you go and lick the sick person�s fork, that�s like a deer licking a salt lick.�

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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