Romney, W.Va. (AP) -- All of Hampshire County is now designated as a chronic wasting disease containment area. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources said Monday that 12 deer tested in the county in the spring tested positive for the disease.
Another 15 deer killed during the fall 2009 hunting season also tested positive.
Chronic wasting disease affects the brains and nervous systems of deer and elk.
A total 74 deer have tested positive for the disease since the first case was confirmed in 2005.
All the cases have been in Hampshire County.
Poster Comment:
In a word, "UGH!"
My state changed the law to allow for the baiting of deer on private land a few years back. The down side to a feeder brimming with apples is deer rub noses and exchange saliva as they slobber on the food, and diseases spread like wildfire.
Twenty odd years ago deer hunting was my religion, but not anymore.
We've had no reported cases of CWD but we have had blue tongue and Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) and once those reports came in I hunted perhaps two more years and quit.
I have no profound thoughts on this subject, just a deep sadness now. When the Lacey Act was passed in 1900 ending the commercialization of wildlife DE closed it's deer hunting, and we had no legal deer hunts for the next 57 years because it took that long to recover from the market hunting of deer.
Now we're up to our ears in white tails, but most are yearlings who are now breeding because so many young bucks are killed each year that there is no breeding hierarchy. The result is a weakened gene pool that is prone to disease and possible collapse. And, DE hunters, rugged individualists all refuse to participate in any voluntary effort to "let them go, let them grow!" Instead of taking does (the secret to deer control is doe control) they harvest too many young bucks, and at 1.5 yrs old bucks are dumber than a bag of hammers and when they start to get "the itch" they get very careless and walk right in front of shotguns.
I suppose that before long Delawareans will again learn what it was like between 1900 and 1957. Deer populations will either collapse or be too diseased to risk eating.
In an word, "UGH!"