re: Chronic Wasting Disease confirmed in a Mississippi White-tailed Deer

Just to continue the debate, here are a few talking points.

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You can't put up a high fence on your property in Louisiana and trap all of the native deer inside. It's illegal.

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True, and I totally agree with this approach. People should not be able to capture wild/native deer. In turn, just the opposite is illegal. You can't turn deer out of a fence onto wild ground. Does both happen, you bet.

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You have to remove them, and bring in deer from another high fence operation

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Also, true. And most, if not all have to be CWD compliant with the state. I'm trying to confirm that right now.

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possibly from out of state

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This is the illegal part. Any animal of the Cervidae family can not be transported across state lines. That has been shut down. You will go to jail and you will not collect $200.

Now consider this. There are no reports of CWD cases in the state of Louisiana to my knowledge. So logically speaking if there are no reports of CWD.....and you can't bring deer across state lines then where will CWD come from?

Now let's be more realistic, could people illegally just bring breeder deer in from out of state? Sure but why risk their herd and financial investment? I mean if you want northern deer that bad, there are cheaper methods to introduce those genetics these days without transporting live deer.

So I continue to ask where will CWD come from? Hunters now must prepare out of state kills in a manner that reduces CWD. Does it eliminate the possibility that CWD may come home with them, NO it does not and the fact is that more deer come across state lines by hunters bringing in wild deer than any other method.
In addition to hunters, what about migratory birds such as Black Vultures, raptors and owls that feed on these northern animals and then fly south for the winter? Are they bringing CWD here? Who knows?

The point of this long response is to say there is more to the story than just a knee jerk reaction to high fence operations being the culprit of CWD. Do they play a part, yes, but they are not the only thing to consider in negative press about CWD.