MDC required deer testing first weekend of season
The Missouri Department of Conservation is requiring hunters harvesting deer meat in one of 29 counties to get the meat tested this weekend. The testing is only required for hunters harvesting this first weekend of fall firearms deer season.
The department is testing the meat for Chronic Wasting Disease and is interested in finding out where the disease may be. The department said the 29 counties have had CWD or are within an approximate 25 mile radius from where the disease has been found.
The counties are Adair, Boone, Callaway, Carroll, Chariton, Crawford, Cole, Cooper, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Knox, Linn, Livingston, Macon, Miller, Moniteau, Morgan, Osage, Putnam, St. Charles, St. Louis, Randolph, Schuyler, Scotland, Shelby, Sullivan, Washington, and Warren.
There are 75 testing locations across the 29 counties.
According to the MDC, CWD is a fatal, neurological disease that affects deer, elk, and moose. It is caused by an abnormal protein and can cause degeneration of brain tissue, which slowly leads to death. CWD has no vaccine or cure and is 100-percent fatal.
There is no evidence that humans can be infected with CWD.
Deer infected with CWD do not always look sick. The MDC says symptoms include excessive salivation, drooping head/ears, tremors, emaciation, and change in behavior such as lack of fear of humans and lack of coordination. It can take months or years for a deer infected with CWD to show symptoms.
Scientists say the disease is spread from deer-to-deer and through contact by deer with contaminated soil, food, and water. Infected deer can spread the disease while appearing healthy.
At this time, testing is not required for hunters in the southwest part of the state but officials are concerned with the possibility of the disease spreading from infected deer in Arkansas.
