KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Seven Missouri counties immediately north and northeast of Kansas City have been added to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone.
Hunters who harvest deer on Saturday or Sunday — Nov. 11-12, the opening weekend of firearms season — in Caldwell, Clay, Clinton, Grundy, Livingston and Ray counties are required to take the animal to a mandatory sampling station.
RELATED | Find an MDC Mandatory CWD Sampling Station
Sampling stations are open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The deer will be tested for CWD, which is fatal in the wild deer herd, as the conservation department aims to “limit the spread and effects of the disease over time in the state’s deer herd.”
The seven counties in proximity to Kansas City were added to the CWD Management Zone after deer carcasses in past seasons tested positive for the disease.
“While CWD continues to spread to new counties in Missouri, the overall prevalence of the disease remains low thanks to cooperation with MDC by hunters, landowners, taxidermists, and meat processors,” the conservation department said in a release. “The Centers for Disease Control says there is no evidence of transmission of the disease from deer to humans, but the agency recommends that as a precaution meat from a positive deer not be consumed.”
Throughout archery season and the remainder of firearms season, which continues through Nov. 21, voluntary sampling is available at some MDC offices as well as taxidermy and meat-processing businesses that have partnered with the state conservation department.
There also are MDC freezers where deer heads can be left for testing, but those freezers will be locked Nov. 11-12.
Test results will be available online.
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