Meetings planned to discuss wasting disease

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Department of Conservation will host several public meetings to discuss the impact of chronic wasting disease on the state's white-tailed deer population.

The department says hunters, landowners, conservation groups and hunting-related businesses are all invited to the meetings. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday in Macon. Other meetings will be held in September and October in Kirkwood, West Plains, Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City, St. Joseph, Blue Springs and Springfield.

The Joplin Globe reports (http://bit.ly/15AnXNM) Missouri has confirmed 11 cases of chronic wasting disease in captive deer and 10 in wild deer. The first cases were detected in 2010 and 2011 in captive deer at hunting preserves in north-central Missouri.

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Online:

The Missouri Department of Conservation:

http://mdc.mo.gov/

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Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com