Update on chronic wasting disease to be held in Jasper

     The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will hold a special meeting to update the public on chronic wasting disease Tuesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. at the Carroll Electric Cooperative Building in Jasper.
     Since the first case of chronic wasting disease was discovered in Arkansas a year ago, many steps have been taken to learn more about the disease which effects deer and elk, according to Cory Gray, manager of the newly formed Research, Evaluation and Compliance Division of the commission. He says they promised the community to keep them informed about the disease and the purpose of this meeting is to update the public.
     Following the first reported case of the disease, it has been found in 206 white-tail deer and six elk. The most recent positive cases have been the result of samples collected from taxidermists on deer presented for mounting. Gray says 28 positive cases came from 898 samples submitted. The samples don't really contribute scientifically in determining the prevalence in the state, according to Gray, who says mounted animals are biased toward older bucks which are at highest risk for having the disease. Those samples, he says, were taken to identify new areas where the disease may be spread with all positive cases coming from counties already in the chronic wasting disease management zone.
     Another positive case came from 29 samples collected through veterinarians and three came from samples taken from the Missouri Department of Conservation on deer harvested in Arkansas. Missouri currently does not have a carcass importation ban, according to Gray, so they collect voluntary samples of deer that crossed the state line from Arkansas to Missouri.
     Gray says biologists do not intend to take random samples from the Jasper area outside of hunting season, but they will conduct selective sampling near Arkansas Nuclear One, where hunting is prohibited, in the immediate vicinity of the southernmost positive case in Pope County.
     Samples will continue to be taken from sick deer and elk reported by the public as well as road-killed deer, according to Gray. Collection from road-killed deer will continue until April 1 and will resume from September 18 to November 1, a time determined last year as the best times for high deer movement and temperatures allowed collection of viable samples.
     To report sightings of deer or elk suspected of having chronic wasting disease or for additional information, call 1-800-482-9262 or visit the commission website www.agfc.comhttp://www.agfc.com.
 

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