MDWFP reminds hunters to have deer meat tested for chronic wasting disease

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is reminding deer hunters to have their kills tested for chronic wasting disease.

So far during the 2019-2020 season, the department collected and tested more than 4,000 samples from hunters, roadkill and reported sick deer.

CWD, which is highly contagious, can take a year or more before symptoms are apparent. Symptoms can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms.

Eighteen samples tested positive last year, and statewide, 37 samples tested positive for CWD since February 2018 in the following counties:

• Benton – 22
• Issaquena – 2
• Marshall – 10
• Panola – 1
• Pontotoc – 1
• Tallahatchie – 1

Hunters can drop off samples at any of Mississippi’s 36 collection sites. In Warren County, the site is in the Phil Bryant Wildlife Management Area on Highway 465 and is open 24 hours a day.

For more information, visit the MDWFP website.