LANIER COUNTY, Ga. (WALB) – Lanier and Berrien Counties at the moment are thought-about “Continual Losing Illness” administration areas by the Georgia Division of Pure Assets (DNR). This declaration comes after a two-and-a-half-year-old male white-tailed deer, harvested on personal property in Lanier County, examined constructive for the deadly illness on the USDA’s Nationwide Veterinary Providers Laboratories. That is the primary case of Continual Losing Illness (CWD) detected in Georgia.
What’s Continual Losing Illness?
In response to the Georgia DNR, CWD was first found in 1967 in Fort Collins, Colorado. CWD is a neurological illness attributable to pure proteins known as “prions.” It isn’t attributable to a virus, and has no therapy or vaccine. Georgia DNR stories that CWD is in the identical household of illnesses as “mad cow illness,” however has by no means been documented in folks.
Can different animals can get CWD?
Georgia DNR says that CWD “doesn’t seem to naturally infect pets, cattle, or different livestock.” Nevertheless, different kinds of deer, together with elk and moose, are in danger. The illness can unfold between deer by means of saliva, urine, and feces.
What does CWD seem like?
In response to the USDA, the next signs in a deer might point out CWD:
- Weight reduction
- Frequent urination
- Poor coordination
- Drooping ears
- Drooling
- Issue swallowing
- Aspiration pneumonia
How did the illness get to Georgia?
Georgia DNR says there are a number of prospects, together with the unlawful importation of stay deer. The illness might even have unfold from an undiscovered pocket of CWD in one other state, or carcass components from one other state had been discarded within the space.
What does this imply for hunters/landowners?
To forestall additional unfold of the illness, Georgia DNR says hunters and landowners ought to:
- Not transfer stay deer. Transferring stay deer is the best danger for introducing CWD to new areas.
- Get rid of carcasses correctly and don’t convey entire carcasses into Georgia from out of state or transfer entire carcasses outdoors the CWD Administration Space. Any carcass components you don’t intend to eat must be left on the property the place the deer was killed, despatched to a landfill, or buried.
- Report sick or irregular deer to your nearest WRD Sport Administration Workplace.
- Keep away from consuming a deer that assessments constructive for CWD. Georgia DNR says in the event you hunt within the CWD administration space, the CDC recommends testing deer earlier than consuming them.
What’s subsequent for GA DNR now that there’s a constructive CWD case?
In response to Georgia DNR, “The crucial subsequent step is to find out the geographic extent and prevalence fee in that Administration Space (i.e., how far it has unfold and what p.c of deer have CWD). The Division will try this with landowner cooperation by means of ‘cluster sampling’ within the rapid space.”
Georgia DNR plans to carry a press convention Friday, Jan. 24 to reply any lingering questions that landowners and hunters might need concerning the illness.
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