Press Release
October 31, 2018
Contact: Marianne Hudson, 334-242-3469

Chronic Wasting Disease Found in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, White-tailed Deer

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) has received confirmation from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) that a white-tailed deer from Pontotoc County, Mississippi, tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). According to MDWFP, a 1.5-year-old, free-ranging male white-tailed deer, that appeared to be emaciated and was behaving abnormally, was euthanized on October 8, 2018. The sample was confirmed CWD-positive by the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa, on October 30, 2018. This is the second case of CWD documented in Mississippi.

WFF has tested nearly 8,000 deer since 2002 and has not detected CWD within Alabama. As part of WFF’s CWD Strategic Surveillance and Response Plan, WFF will increase its CWD surveillance sampling efforts beyond typical surveillance rates in those counties within the 50-mile radius of the Pontotoc County CWD-positive white-tailed deer. These counties include Franklin, Lamar, and Marion counties. Standard CWD surveillance methods will be used to collect additional samples for these counties including, but not limited to, voluntary samples from hunter-harvested deer as well as focused efforts on road kills and abnormally behaving deer.

CWD is a neurodegenerative disease found in most deer species, including moose, elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer. It is infectious and always fatal. It is part of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep. These diseases cause irreversible damage to brain tissue that leads to neurological symptoms, emaciation and death of the animal.
Deer infected with CWD can spread the disease to other deer even before symptoms develop. It can take one to two years for infected animals to become symptomatic. When symptoms appear, they can include emaciation, lethargy, abnormal behavior, and loss of bodily functions. Other signs include excessive salivation, loss of appetite, progressive weight loss, excessive thirst and urination, and drooping head/ears.

More information on CWD can be found at http://www.outdooralabama.com/cwd.




Pontotoc County, Mississippi CWD Index Case with 50-mile radius extending into Franklin, Marion, and Lamar County. Alabama.

Crap. Bad news.

We're screwed.

I'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseam, but the popular thing is to blame baiting/"supplemental feeding" for the rampant spread of CWD (or at least exacerbates it)..............is there any concrete evidence of such?

I'd be plenty happy if baiting/supplemental feeding/whatever you want to call it was 100% illegal, simply because I hate how it's turned so many folks lazy...like they've just forgotten how to hunt without a cornpile 101 yds away and behind a tree...

baiting/supplemental feeding ain't got schist to do with spreading CWD

so how about feeding the other eight months of the year when hunting season is closed?????

The term "supplemental feeding" would encompass the other eight months of the year. And feeding of any sort has absolutely been proven to be an aid in the spread of disease between whitetail deer. It's a no brainer that if you get a bunch of animals hanging around a 10 yard circle they're gonna pass whatever they've got to the rest of them. Kinda like kids in school always getting sick, it's all about proximity and contact.

I would be interested to know if there was a Big Pen near where it was kilt.

I’m not taking a particular side and do believe it could be spread by feeding BUT, if that were the case there would be no healthy deer left in Texas. You guys have never seen nothing like the corn feeder capital of the world.

I'm not aware of any study that proves CWD has been spread by baiting or supplemental feeding, though common sense says it "might" be, as in any situation where deer are congregated. Scientists are not even sure exactly how CWD is spread from deer to deer.

see what Nighthunter said....

or any enclosure or even large landowner that might bring in deer to turn loose. Not just a breeder.

Sorry Fred. Took it down. Forgot I don't discuss topics from work anymore... But you are correct with your statements.

I’m probably the only one that knows the cause and why CWD/CWS spreads.

It was a modified protein for the purpose of biological warfare and food control. It is spread mainly through inbreeding or contamination by consumption. The protein folds the closer in relation a DNA strand is, or say pigs and yotes gobbling up a deer then pooping it out.

Like a fella said already, “we are screwed”.

I guess I should have clarified that I was speaking of disease transmission in general not specifically CWD. Either way, horrible disease that is definitely bad news for the hunting community. I'd be afraid to hear what the response plan would be for an outbreak here. Wipe out every deer in a 10 mile area?

Warfare against deer?

Of course, and pushed by the insurance companies with their influence over state wildlife agencies. It's all part of their nationwide plan to reduce deer populations and vehicle crashes so they can make more money.

C'mon guys get real..... Johnny got the idea from Stephen King's The Stand. That's his favorite book he helped write. All the good parts were his only contribution. He showed a group of scientists from Antarctica how to develop it in Madagascar in the early 80's. That was after we was working with the British Secret Service on a mission called Spectre and just before he returned to Nam to rescue a group of POW's while working with the CIA, where they double crossed him, he was captured by Russians and then fought his way out with a bow and arrow with exploding tips.

Get to know this Johnny Loco guy Clem. Geesh, where have you been?

Screwed?? I just got back from Kansas, a CWD state and they’re not screwed. They’re deer herd is a hell of a lot better than ours!!

Yep, Kansas will ruin Alabama for you....big deer and lots of deer.

I'm not worried about the consumption part as much as I am it decimating the deer herd. I read this morning that the disease has been around since 1967 and there's no telling how many people have ate infected meat and not one case of it killing anybody.