TWRA says 10 deer have tested positive for CWD in preliminary testing in two counties, Fayette and Hardeman, and the state is enacting its CWD protocol.

https://www.tn.gov/twra/news/2018/1...g-disease--enacts-cwd-response-plan.html


Friday, December 14, 2018 | 08:17pm

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) is enacting the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Response plan, following a preliminary positive detection of CWD in white-tailed deer in Hardeman and Fayette counties. The response plan involves a coordinated effort between TWRA, Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and other partners.

Seven deer in Fayette County and three in Hardeman County have preliminarily tested positive for CWD. Additional samples are being tested and the TWRA is actively trying to contact the hunters who harvested these deer.

“Once arrangements are made, TWRA will be encouraging hunters harvesting deer in these areas to submit their deer for testing,” said Chuck Yoest, TWRA CWD Coordinator.

“Hunters are our biggest ally in managing chronic wasting disease in Tennessee if it is confirmed here,” said Dr. Dan Grove, Wildlife Veterinarian, University of Tennessee Extension. “Besides submitting deer from the to-be-defined CWD Zone, the most important thing everyone needs to do is follow the regulations for moving harvested deer. (https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/twra/hunting/cwd.html/#law).

Although CWD has no known risk to the health of humans or livestock, it is a contagious and deadly neurological disorder that affects members of the deer family. It is transmitted through animal-to-animal contact, animal contact with a contaminated environment, and with contaminated feed or water sources. It is the most significant threat to the deer population nationwide, as it is 100 percent fatal to deer and elk. Wildlife agencies across the country are working to inform the public about CWD, its deadly results and possible impacts to economies. Currently, 25 states and three Canadian provinces have documented CWD. Last week, Mississippi announced a preliminary CWD positive hunter-harvested deer in Marshall County which became the closest to Tennessee and the fourth overall this year in Mississippi. Other confirmed cases have previously been made in the border states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Virginia.

More information about CWD, including cervid import restrictions, and videos that explain how to properly dress an animal before transporting it, can be found on TWRA’s website at www.tnwildlife.org. (https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/twra/hunting/cwd.html/)

---TWRA---

Wow. I'm guessing it's already here, we just haven't detected it yet.

Heck no

It's not in Alabama. Lol

Been here longer than any of us. Looks like a lot of folks are starting to realize it now.

Just checked b/c I didn't know.

Fayette County and Hardeman County are adjacent, both are east of Memphis, and both are state line border counties with Mississippi.




Only a matter of time until it's found here.

And probably two of the top 5 in densities and kills

Those 2 counties are just one county west of us in Hardin County. I sure hope we don't get any of it in the deer that we hunt. Those 2 counties also border north MS and we know they have reported a few cases lately.

Seems like an extreme jump to go from 0 to 10 at one time!

Guys this is just further proof that CWD has been in surrounding states and here too for a long time. As states confirm infected deer, surrounding states drastically increase their testing frequency and low and behold, they find it too. The larger your sample size of deer being tested for it gets, the better chance you have of finding a positive deer. It's just something that all SE states are now actively looking for, on a wide scale basis, and something we will have to deal with.

How soon are we going to read on here that Alabama has discovered a positive CWD case?

I think it depends on how many deer they are testing and how quick they give the results .I had not thought that there were 23 states already with positive test results.

I think the number of CWD positive states now are around 25 or 26.

Should be 26 now if I am not mistaken.

I have son that lives in Fayette County near Somerville.

Just a matter of time here.
CWD gonna ruin the deer hunting.
The damn carp gonna ruin the bass fishing.
Something is working on the turkeys.
The quail are long gone.
Guess we’ll all be squirrel hunting pretty soon. Dammit.

So when it’s found here, will they drop the deboning meat from other states crap?

I am not a Statistician......

But, come on......the jump from 0 to 10 says that it is relatively new AND that the area of detection is a ‘Hot Zone’.

I am not saying it is not in AL. Or, that it was not already in TN.
But, if they were already randomly testing, which by all accounts they were, that is a radical increase.

It does make you wonder how large the random sample size was and how random the sampling actually was in TN prior to the MS CWD-positive. We have been hunting in TN for 5 years now and have never had one tested or even knew it was an option to have one tested (same for almost the 30 years I have hunted in Alabama), but I do know TN made a concerted effort on opening weekend of gun season to get samples from every region, if not every county.

One other thing to consider is the random testing did not find the initial CWD-positive buck in MS. Had that deer gone off and died in the delta backwaters instead of in front of a hunter it would have never been tested. I wonder how many of the other positives would have been found without ramped up testing in MS & TN?

But yes, that many initial positives in a two-county area does not sound like a good thing.

OK, it is probably just a matter of time before Bama has CWD positive test, what then. In the more recent positive test states what was/is the protocol? Do they continue to test hunter donated heads or do they go for wholesale slaughter of the herd?

They tried the slaughter thing in Wisconsin. Didn’t work.

The 10 preliminary cases are now confirmed cases and 3 more preliminary positives have been reported in the same 2 counties plus one additional county.