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A hunter education class will be held in Mexico on March 26 and March 27 at the VFW Hall. The class will start on the 26th at 6 p.m. and last until 9 p.m. On the 27th the class will start at 8 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided on Saturday. To participate in the class, students must be 11 years of age or older. Students 15 and younger need to bring a birth certificate or other means of proof of age to the class. To register for the class, go to the Missouri Department of Conservation Web site at http://www.missouriconservation.com and look for hunter education. You may also call the Columbia Regional Office for further information at 573-884-6861.
The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced March 1 that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County, Mo. has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.
“There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. “We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations.”
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the State’s CWD surveillance and testing program. Preliminary tests were conducted by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri’s Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.
CWD is transmitted by live animal to animal contact or soil to animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins, Colo. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
“Missouri’s proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago is proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow preestablished steps to ensure Missouri’s valuable whitetail deer resource remains health and strong,” said Jason Sumners Missouri’s Deer Biologist.
For more information regarding CWD, please contact Dr. Taylor Woods at (573) 751-3377.
If you have any wildlife related information or questions, please call me, Norman Steelman, Audrain County Conservation Agent at (573) 581-2522. You can also call the Columbia Regional Office at (573) 884-6861. If you witness a violation you can call the Operation Game Thief Hotline at 1-800-392-1111. All information and names are kept confidential.
A hunter education class will be held in Mexico on March 26 and March 27 at the VFW Hall. The class will start on the 26th at 6 p.m. and last until 9 p.m. On the 27th the class will start at 8 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided on Saturday. To participate in the class, students must be 11 years of age or older. Students 15 and younger need to bring a birth certificate or other means of proof of age to the class. To register for the class, go to the Missouri Department of Conservation Web site at http://www.missouriconservation.com and look for hunter education. You may also call the Columbia Regional Office for further information at 573-884-6861.
The Missouri Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced March 1 that a captive white-tailed deer in Linn County, Mo. has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). CWD is a neurological disease found in deer, elk and moose.
“There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk to domestic animals or humans,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Taylor Woods. “We have protocols in place to quickly and effectively handle these situations.”
The animal that tested positive for CWD was a white-tailed deer inspected as part of the State’s CWD surveillance and testing program. Preliminary tests were conducted by the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
Upon receiving the confirmed CWD positive, Missouri’s Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Health and Senior Services initiated their CWD Contingency Plan. The plan was developed in 2002 by the Cervid Health Committee, a task force comprised of veterinarians, animal health officers and conservation officers from USDA, MDA, MDC and DHSS working together to mitigate challenges associated with CWD.
CWD is transmitted by live animal to animal contact or soil to animal contact. The disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in the Colorado Division of Wildlife captive wildlife research facility in Fort Collins, Colo. CWD has been documented in deer and/or elk in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. There has been no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans.
“Missouri’s proactive steps to put a testing protocol in place and create a contingency plan years ago is proving beneficial. We are in a solid position to follow preestablished steps to ensure Missouri’s valuable whitetail deer resource remains health and strong,” said Jason Sumners Missouri’s Deer Biologist.
For more information regarding CWD, please contact Dr. Taylor Woods at (573) 751-3377.
If you have any wildlife related information or questions, please call me, Norman Steelman, Audrain County Conservation Agent at (573) 581-2522. You can also call the Columbia Regional Office at (573) 884-6861. If you witness a violation you can call the Operation Game Thief Hotline at 1-800-392-1111. All information and names are kept confidential.
