Fifteen free-ranging deer in Missouri have tested positive for chronic wasting disease or CWD. The Missouri Department of Conservation sampled 18,400 deer for the disease during the fall firearms season.
Of the 15 new cases, one was from Cedar County, three from Franklin County, one from Jefferson County, four from Linn County, two from Macon County, one from Polk County, one from St. Clair County and two from Ste. Genevieve County.
CWD has been found in several hundred deer in northern Arkansas, but no cases of CWD in Missouri were found along the Missouri-Arkansas border.
MDC says mandatory sampling is proving to be critically important in finding new cases in new areas, and additional testing and thinning of deer in the immediate areas where cases are found are helping to limit the spread of the disease.
The 15 new CWD positives bring the total number of CWD cases detected in free-ranging deer in Missouri to 57.
According to MDC, "CWD is a deadly illness in white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family, called cervids. CWD kills all deer and other cervids it infects. There is no vaccination against the disease and no treatment or cure for infected animals."
View the complete news release from MDC here.
