Deer hunters in northeast Louisiana are urged to bring the head of any deer they harvest to one of 13 collection points after cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) have been confirmed. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries State Deer Program Manager Johnathan Bordelon says 14 positive cases have been detected in Tensas Parish.
“The goal of this is to detect the disease as soon as possible when it’s on the landscape so that we could put mitigation measures in place as soon as possible to help slow the spread of the disease to new areas.”
LDWF has set up 13 free CWD collection sites throughout the region including Catahoula, Concordia, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Tensas, and Union Parishes.
Bordelon says there are no treatments or vaccines. He says the process is free and supplies are provided for hunters at collection sites.
“So the hunter place the head of the animal in a bag. Fills out the associated data card. Drops it in the cooler. From that point, they’re able to check the results online in a couple of weeks just from a receipt that they retained at the drop off site.”
Hunters must match their sample I-D number to data online to get test results. The testing process typically takes two to three weeks.
While there is no link between human illness and CWD, Bordelon says health officials recommend…
“That if you hunt in an area where the disease is indemic, it’s recommended that you should test your deer. They also advise that if a deer is harvested and it does test positive that the hunter should not consume that animal out of an abundance of caution.”
Over 18 hundred samples have been submitted in the Bayou State. Results can be found on the LDWF website.
Comments