Hunting News

Public meetings will address new CWD concerns

Public meetings will address new CWD concerns

By Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

Two special public meetings are planned for April 3 and April 5 to address positive cases of chronic wasting disease discovered in three new Arkansas counties – Benton, Sebastian and Washington.

The Fort Smith meeting will be held at the Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center beginning at 6 p.m., April 3. The Springdale meeting will be held at Cross Church, 1709 Johnson Road, beginning at 6 p.m., April 5.

Since the beginning of the 2017-18 deer hunting season, the three positive cases of CWD number among many more positive cases of CWD found within the previously established CWD Management Zone.

Biologists have located 357 positive cases of CWD since it was first detected in Arkansas in February 2016.

“People who hunt in areas near these new cases may have questions about details of the disease or what these findings mean to them,” said Jenn Ballard, state wildlife veterinarian. “We want to continue being as transparent as possible about what CWD is and what we can do about it by keeping the public informed every step of the way.”

The public meetings will give a brief introduction to the disease, the latest science and current information on the disease’s range in Arkansas.

Biologists also will explain newly proposed regulations to slow its spread. Ballard hopes to give more detail about the research behind these regulations and how they can benefit hunters and biologists in the fight against CWD.

“Some methods we propose to combat disease are different from what people are used to and they may seem a little counter-intuitive if you don’t know the reasoning behind them,” Ballard said.

“We really hope to help explain this information at the meetings and to give hunters an opportunity to provide comments about them. Hunters are our partners in this fight and we want them to understand why changes are necessary,” he added.

There is no known cure for CWD and the only methods to combat it are to slow its spread through natural means, such as deer movement, and by eliminating the unnatural movement of potentially infected animals or their carcasses to new areas.

For more information about CWD in Arkansas, click here.

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