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Mississippi, Louisiana stop killing deer to test for disease

4 years 10 months 3 weeks ago Saturday, July 07 2018 Jul 7, 2018 July 07, 2018 11:01 AM July 07, 2018 in News
Source: Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi and Louisiana wildlife officials have stopped killing deer to test for chronic wasting disease after no additional cases were found.
  
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks learned Feb. 9 that the disease had been confirmed in the Delta's Issaquena County. It was the first time the illness was found in Mississippi. Officials say genetics showed the infected white-tailed deer was local, and therefore was infected locally.
  
Chronic wasting disease affects brains of deer and related animals, such as elk. There's no known treatment.
  
Russ Walsh, the department's wildlife bureau director, says about 780 deer were killed in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana within a 25-mile (40-kilometer) radius of where the diseased deer was found. The Clarion Ledger reports none of those deer tested positive for the disease.

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