The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has confirmed 41 new positive test results for chronic wasting disease (CWD) following the testing of more than 32,000 free-ranging deer throughout the state during its 2018-19 disease-surveillance efforts.
According to MDC, the disease-surveillance efforts included collecting more than 20,000 tissue samples from hunter-harvested deer during its mandatory CWD sampling over the opening weekend of the fall firearms deer season and collecting more than 8,000 tissue samples from voluntary sampling during the entire past deer season. MDC also collected tissue samples from a small number of road-killed deer and “sick-looking” deer reported over the past season.
Of the CWD positives, 15 were found through mandatory sampling; 12 through voluntary sampling; 12 through targeted culling; and 2 from road-killed or sick deer. The 41 new positive test results bring Missouri’s total CWD detections to 116 since 2012.
The new positives were from the following counties:
· Adair: 3
· Crawford: 1
· Franklin: 5
· Jefferson: 1
· Linn: 3
· Macon: 8
· Mercer: 1
· Oregon: 5
· Polk: 3
· St. Clair: 2
· Ste. Genevieve: 7
· Stone: 1
· Taney: 1
For more information, visit mdc.mo.gov/cwd.