Chronic Wasting Disease

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TWRA SEEKS INPUT ON CWD STRATEGIC PLAN

A 30-day public comment period is now open for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s new five-year chronic wasting disease (CWD) strategic plan. The CWD Response and Management plan will serve as a guiding document for TWRA staff and ensure the best science is applied in efforts to control the disease.

The new plan includes five main overarching goals:

1. Prevent the introduction or spread of CWD to new areas.

2. Surveillance and monitoring to improve early detection of the disease and better track the number and location of cases.

3. Activate management and responses to minimize the impacts of CWD where the disease has been detected and proactively respond to any new cases.

4. More research to optimize all of TWRA’s CWD programs.

5. Outreach and Communications to ensure the public and our hunters have the information they need about CWD.

Hunters have an important role in helping manage CWD. The complete plan can be found on the Public Notice section of the TWRA website. Comments may be submitted by mail to: Wildlife Public Comments, TWRA, Wildlife Division, 5107 Edmondson Pike, Nashville, TN 37211 or emailed to Twra.huntingcomments@tn.gov. The comment period is open through Jan. 29.

Since December 2018, the TWRA and its partners have been responding to the discovery of CWD in Tennessee. During the 2021-22 fiscal year, TWRA sampled more than 16,000 deer, with 631 returning positive results. Management of CWD is complex and requires numerous long-term techniques to be applied, monitored, and adjusted over time.

Development of the new strategic plan has been an 18-month process for the TWRA with the help of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture with additional input from a wide range of stakeholders.

CWD CONCERNS AGENCY

In an effort to keep chronic wasting disease (CWD) out of Tennessee, the state’s wildlife agency is reminding hunters who travel beyond state lines that they must be mindful of import restrictions before they return home.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is concerned about hunters who pursue big game in the cervid family, which includes white-tailed deer, elk, and moose.

Because chronic wasting disease is contagious and deadly to deer, the agency is urging sportsmen to read this year’s Tennessee Hunting & Trapping Guide for instructions on properly preparing game for transport.

Import restrictions apply to most U.S. states and all Canadian provinces where chronic wasting disease has been discovered.

“This includes Arkansas and Missouri, which border Tennessee,” noted Col. Darren Rider of the TWRA Law Enforcement Division. “If someone comes back into the state without following the restrictions we would have to confiscate their prized deer, elk, or moose, which is something we definitely do not want to do.”

Virginia has also reported CWD, but because the positive counties are more than 150 miles from Tennessee, hunters outside of Frederick and Shenandoah counties are not bound by this year’s restrictions.

“The import restriction will go into effect for all of Virginia beginning next spring,” said Col. Rider.

While Tennessee’s import restrictions do not halt the transport of legally taken deer, elk, or moose, they do require carcasses be cleaned and dressed beyond what is typically done by most hunters.

The following can be imported into Tennessee from CWD positive areas:

*Meat that has bones removed.

*Antlers, antlers attached to cleaned skull plates, and cleaned skulls (where no meat or tissues are attached to the skull.)

*Cleaned teeth.

*Finished taxidermy, hides, and tanned products.

More information about CWD, including many of the states and provinces where CWD has been reported, can also be found on TWRA’s website homepage under “Hot Topics.”

Hunters should inquire with wildlife agencies prior to their out-of-state trip if CWD has been identified in local cervid populations.

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