Another first: A Taney County deer tests positive for CWD
Wes JohnsonA deer killed in Taney County is the first to test positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in that county, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The Taney County deer was killed only 2.5 miles away from another deer that tested positive for CWD in Stone County, also that county's first positive CWD test.
Jasmine Batten, MDC's Wildlife Disease Coordinator, said the positive CWD test in the Taney County deer was confirmed in the past few days. To limit the spread of CWD in wild deer, MDC likely will conduct deer culling operations in the vicinity of the new cases.
"Our CWD surveillance and management plan calls for localized culling in locations ~1-2 square miles from CWD detections," Batten said in an email. "So, tentatively yes — barring any major game changers in the coming weeks as the rest of the results roll in.
"We will be looking at the remainder of the test results, and then discussing boundaries, etc. We would like to start reaching out to landowners later in December to solicit participation."
According to MDC, 13 new cases of the deadly deer disease have been found so far in 2018 in Missouri. Five cases were found in Franklin County, three in Macon County, and single cases in Adair, Jefferson, Oregon, Stone and Taney counties.
The Stone and Taney County deer were killed about 15 miles north of the Arkansas border. Northwest Arkansas has recorded a significant outbreak of CWD, with more than 400 cases of the disease detected in deer and elk since 2016.
MDC is continuing to process thousands of tissue samples taken from deer killed during the recent hunting seasons.
For more information on CWD cases found this season and in past years, visit mdc.mo.gov/cwd under “CWD in Missouri.”
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