More of Louisiana Now Under Chronic Wasting Disease Control

For many years many of Louisiana's neighboring states were battling the effects of Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD, however, we appeared to have some form of magical protection.

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This dreaded disease, which has decimated the deer population in a number of other states, was totally undetected for years in the deer herds of Louisiana.

That changed over the past couple of years and Louisiana reacted promptly with a CWD Control Area for parishes in Northeast Louisiana.

Now, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has announced a modification to that Control Area to include a small portion of East Carroll Parish, east of the Mississippi River, which begins today, October 9.

According to the LDWF, the change was necessitated by the detection of a CWD positive deer in Issaquena County, Mississippi. The detection was approximately six miles away from the newly included area.  This was the first positive detection in Issaquena County since 2018.

The CWD Control Area now includes all of Tensas Parish and portions of Concordia, East Carroll, Madison and Franklin parishes.

The expansion into East Carroll Parish is a continuation of the CWD control area boundary which previously terminated at the parish line.  The location is the southernmost point of East Carroll Parish located on the east side of the Mississippi River.

The newest CWD Control Area expansion will complement disease mitigation efforts by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP).  Baiting and feeding will be prohibited by both states in the newly expanded control area.

CWD is a neurodegenerative disease of white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family. The disease is infectious, always fatal, and has no known treatment. The disease can be transmitted from live deer, deer carcasses or other environmental sources such as plants or soil contaminated from exposure to CWD positive deer or deer carcasses.

What Are The CWD Control Area Regulations?

• All supplemental feeding, including mineral or salt licks, is prohibited. The purpose of this feeding ban is to reduce the potential for the spread of CWD through artificial congregation of deer at bait sites.
• The use of approved bait not normally ingested by deer for feral hog trapping will be allowed.
• The export of cervids, cervid carcasses or parts of cervid carcasses originating within CWD Control Area is prohibited, except for: meat that is cut and wrapped; meat that has been boned out; quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached, antlers, clean skull plates with antlers, cleaned skulls without tissue attached, capes, tanned hides, finished taxidermy mounts and cleaned cervid teeth.
• Export exceptions for taxidermy, which require a permit, have been established. The deer head waiver permit must be completed before moving the deer head outside of the CWD Control Area to a taxidermy business. The permit is available on the LDWF CWD webpage (link above). Additional taxidermy waiver instructions on transport and disposal are available by visiting https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Hunting/Deer/Files/Taxidermy-waiver-instructions-CWD-Control-Area.pdf