The Inevitable Happened – CWD in Mississippi

On February 2, I wrote about  proposed legislation affecting hunters in Mississippi.  Senate Bill 2921 would have required the owner of any wildlife enclosure to apply for and obtain a permit from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) and provided other related regulations.  The bill was virtually identical to HB1389.  Senate Bill 2921 died in Committee.  HB1389 passed the House and is currently pending in the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee of the Senate.

My February 2 blog post ended with “It is good to see the MDWFP and the Legislature doing what it can to protect that economy from the unfortunate and probably inevitable day CWD reaches Mississippi.”  A week later, the inevitable occurred and reports surfaced that CWD was confirmed in a free range whitetail deer in Issaquena County, Mississippi.  According the the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks the deer was collected on collected on January 25, 2018 and was a 4.5-year-old male that died of natural causes.

Since the MDWFP confirmed CWD, a considerable amount of information and unfortunately, misinformation has occurred on social media and internet message forums.  I won’t bother to repeat any of what has come from the chicken littles.  If you would like to read the actual plan the MDWFP has prepared, you can read it here.  The immediate change for sportsmen is a ban on supplemental feeding in the counties  within the 25 mile buffer zone surrounding the first confirmed CWD deer (Claiborne, Hinds, Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren, and Yazoo).  Suffice it to say, there will be modifications to the plan as they move forward with testing and additional information becomes available.  The MDWFP chronic wasting disease website will be updated as any developments occur.  If you want to read more about CWD, the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance has a very informative website that is updated frequently.