The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has scheduled a pair of local public meetings this week to discuss the need for an expansion of the current Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone for deer and elk. The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday evening in the Trout Center of the Vada Sheid Community Development Center on the campus of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home and Thursday evening in the small auditorium of the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View. Both meetings will start at 6.
Game and fish reports recent test results from CWD-positive deer along the outer edge of the zone boundary have caused the commission to expand the zone to include Baxter, Stone and Scott counties. Biologist identified 238 new positive cases of CWD in white-tailed deer and three elk during the 2018-2019 hunting season, and a portion of the positive cases were located on the eastern edge of Searcy County.
Inclusion within the CWD Management Zone will result in new hunting regulations on public and private land within the new areas, movement of harvested deer and feeding wildlife, which can abnormally concentrate animals into close quarters and increase the likelihood of disease transmission. Norfork Lake and Sylamore wildlife management areas would be affected by the regulations.
For more information, contact the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Mountain Home office at 870-425-7577.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI