The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission ratified a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretarial Declaration of Emergency expanding the Chronic Wasting Disease control area in northeast Louisiana.
The action came during the April 9 monthly commission meeting in Vidalia.
The DE was issued on March 11 in response to a confirmed CWD detection in a hunter-harvested white-tailed deer in Ouachita Parish in January. The DE is effective for 180 days unless rescinded or replaced by a final promulgated Rule.
The DE includes all of Ouachita Parish and portions of Lincoln, Jackson, Union, Morehouse, Caldwell and Richland parishes. The existing CWD control area was expanded to include these new areas.
The adult doe, harvested in Deer Area 2, was voluntarily submitted for sampling and later confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. The detection is the first confirmed CWD positive in Ouachita Parish.
The DE restricts baiting and feeding within the CWD Control Area. The portions of the CWD Control Area referred to as the Enhanced Mitigation Zone and Buffer Zone include varying restrictions on bait.
While baiting and feeding will be prohibited within the Enhanced Mitigation Zone, baiting will be allowed within the CWD Buffer Zone through methods explained in the DE.
In addition, deer carcass transport rules are included that prohibit the export of certain deer parts. Food plots are still allowed.
