JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Conservation Commission recently approved recommendations by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for its fall and winter efforts to find cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) and help limit the spread of the deadly deer disease to more deer and more areas.
MDC confirmed 33 new cases of CWD following the testing of nearly 24,500 free-ranging Missouri deer through its sampling and testing efforts last season. The new cases were found in Adair, Cedar, Franklin, Jefferson, Linn, Macon, Perry, Polk, St. Clair, and Ste. Genevieve counties. These new cases bring the total number of free-ranging deer in Missouri confirmed to have CWD to 75. Learn more at mdc.mo.gov/cwd under “CWD in Missouri.”
NEW COUNTIES ADDED TO CWD MANAGEMENT ZONE
Based on the findings from the past season, MDC has added seven new counties to its CWD Management Zone: Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Grundy, Madison, McDonald, Mercer, and Perry.
These seven new counties join 41 existing counties of the Department’s CWD Management Zone. The Zone consists of counties in or near where cases of the disease have been found. Mercer County was added because of the proximity of a CWD-positive deer found in southern Iowa. McDonald County was added because of CWD detection in northwest Arkansas.
The 48 counties are: Adair, Barry, Benton, Bollinger, Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Cedar, Chariton, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, Dade, Franklin, Gasconade, Grundy, Hickory, Jefferson, Knox, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Madison, McDonald, Mercer, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Ozark, Perry, Polk, Putnam, Randolph, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Warren, and Washington.
MDC has increased the availability of antlerless permits in the seven new counties and expanded the firearms antlerless portion to help harvest more
