Chronic Wasting Disease update: more than 4,000 samples submitted this hunting season

Published 1:35 pm Thursday, January 13, 2022

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JACKSON — Mississippi Hunters have submitted 4,164 Chronic Wasting Disease samples for testing as of Jan. 13, 2022. Jefferson County has had 52 samples submitted, 28 samples were submitted in Adams County, Franklin County has 36 and Wilkinson County has submitted 31 samples. 

Chronic Wasting Disease is a disease which occurs in Cervids, White-Tailed Deer, Elk and Mule Deer, and is caused by a contagious prion. For some animals, it may be a year or more before symptoms develop, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness, and other neurologic symptoms. Infected animals shed prions through saliva, feces, blood, and urine. Other animals can become infected through direct contact with an infected animal and through indirect contact from an infected environment. Once the disease occurs in an area, evidence demonstrates eradication is unlikely.

Each time a hunter submits a sample for CWD testing they enter their name in a CWD raffle for a chance to win $1,000 and two people will win $500.  Winners will be drawn at random after February 15, 2022. 

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CWD samples can be dropped off at testing locations in the Miss-Lou. Hunters in Jefferson and Adams County can submit samples at Natchez State Park located at 230-B Wickliff Road, in Franklin County samples can be dropped off at the US Forest Service office at 3085 US98 in Meadville. Wilkinson County hunters can drop CWD samples off at the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office at 1389 US61 in Woodville. Hunters can also submit samples through participating taxidermists. 

To date, CWD has not been detected in Claiborne, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams or Wilkinson Counties.