The Missouri Conservation Commission has approved recommendations for regulation changes to help limit the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). The disease has been found in free-ranging deer from Adair, Cole, Macon, and, most recently, Franklin counties.
The proposed regulations, which were approved at the commission's Dec. 11 meeting, would prohibit the feeding of deer and use of deer attractants such as grain, salt, and mineral products in MDC's CWD management zones. Feeding deer unnaturally concentrates deer in a small area, which can help spread the disease.
Exceptions to the regulation include feeding wildlife within 100 feet of any residence or occupied building, feed placed in a manner that excludes access by deer, feed and minerals used solely for normal agricultural, forest management or wildlife food-plot-production practices.
MDC's proposed CWD management zones include all counties within a 25-mile radius of where a CWD-positive deer has been found. Those 27 counties in northeast, central, and east-central Missouri can be found on the MDC website at www.mdc.mo.gov/CWDManagementZones. Callaway County is included in this zone.
Missouri's rule making process includes a 30-day public comment period.
Full verbiage of the proposed regulation changes will be posted on the MDC website after Jan. 1, 2016.
Comments related to the proposed regulation changes can be submitted to the Conservation Department from Jan. 16 through Feb. 14, 2016 at http://mdc.mo.gov/node/24141%20.