TUNICA, Miss.–Deer in several Delta counties have tested positive and are among the 127 deer samples that have tested positive since last year, said the Miss. Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. That’s a record for the disease in the state.
More than 10,500 samples were collected from hunters who voluntarily allow samples from their kills to be tested.
Some of the Delta counties included were Tate, Tunica, DeSoto, Yalobusha and Sharkey. But, the positive samples do not mean those are the only places where the disease is happening.
The disease is called chronic wasting because the animal eventually starves, losing weight as it progresses. The deer also lose coordination, fear of people and drool.
While it is not dangerous to humans that scientists can tell, it does pose a danger to the deer population through contagion.
Positive samplkes were found in 17 counties throughout the state.
