Zombie deer disease continues to spread from country to country as hunters fear industry impacts

STARKVILLE, Miss – At least 16 states have put in place new regulations to prevent hunters from transporting deer from areas where they have tested positive for chronic debilitating disease.

The Carolinas are among the states that have stricter guidelines. In North Carolina, for example, hunters must comply with the state's new packaging and processing regulations, which require that deer meat be cut and packaged before being transported in the state.

The state also prohibits hunters from transporting part of the spine of a deer. In South Carolina, the Department of Environment and State Resources now requires hunters to label parts of the carcass with identifying information such as name and surname. address of the person importing the parts of the carcass; the state and / or country of origin; the date on which the deer was killed and the number of the hunter's license or license. All of this is part of an effort to prevent the spread of the so-called "zombie-deer" and erase it from its existence.

Steve Demarais, a professor at the Mississippi State University's Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Agriculture, said that most states now have some form of regulation prohibiting hunters from transporting carcasses deer on the other side of the border.

"If someone illegally moves a deer into a new area thinking it's going to improve the genetics of the local deer population by having it come to a breeding establishment, for example." , it's the easiest way to pass it on, "said Demarais.

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The professor stated that people spread the disease by transporting deer harvested from one state, turning it into another state and throwing the carcass on the spot. He said the carcass could have the infectious agent on it and get into the soil and potentially contaminate other animals.

"Animals with this disease secrete or release infectious agents in their urine as well as in saliva and excrement," he said. "If they die in the environment, their carcasses degenerate, break down and release the infectious agent into the soil. It is very difficult to get rid of it once you have it. "

The state of Tennessee has confirmed the first cases of MDC in the state during the hunting season last December. About 24 deer in Fayette and Hardeman counties in Tennessee tested positive for the disease.

Since then, the state's wildlife and fisheries commission has made regulatory changes, including the creation of a CWD management zone in three state counties. The Commission has also banned the transport of deer harvested outside MDC infected areas without treatment, and it is forbidden for those who feed it to feed in these areas.

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Mississippi, which discovered its first MDC cases in February 2018, applies similar restrictions. However, regulation has not prevented new business from multiplying. The Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries Department confirmed last December that six deer had been found positive for CWD in northern Mississippi, near where Tennessee had found confirmed cases around its border. South.

Demarais said more hunters could help reduce the prevalence of positive deer for CWD

Russ Walsh, executive director of Mississippi's Wildlife Bureau, said hunters should continue to hunt.

"We encourage hunters to continue doing what you've always done and to hunt and harvest the deer," said Walsh.

This is good news for Mississippi hunter Robb Herring, who hunts at least five times a week during the hunting season. He feared that the discovery of MDC in the state would result in a decrease or a complete interruption of the hunt. He said it was a matter of livelihood.

"It's not a sport for me, it's keeping the freezer full," he said of the five deer he kills every year, which provides him with enough meat for the whole family. year. "We can go to the store, but you're not going to buy that organic meat or deer meat."

The hunting industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. According to the 2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-related Recreation, more than $ 156.9 billion was spent for fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing.

Hunters worry that if CWD becomes a bigger problem, states like Mississippi, which depend on hunting license sales to fund its wildlife, fisheries and parks department, could suffer the consequences.

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"There is usually a slight decline in license sales after a state has identified CWD on its territory. At the same time, operating costs have increased dramatically as they have significantly increased their sampling efforts to determine where the CWD is located in order to manage it properly, "said Demarais. "It's a business model that has failed."