CWD continues spreading in Southwest Missouri

Andy Ostmeyer is the metro editor at the Globe. He is a graduate of Kansas State University who has worked at the Globe for 38 years. His email address is aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com., The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·4 min read

Apr. 27—More than a dozen cases of chronic wasting disease were identified in four Southwest Missouri counties in the 2021-22 deer season.

The Missouri Department of Conservation reported four cases for Barry County, two for Christian, six for Stone and two for Taney.

The positives in Barry and Christian counties are the first for those counties.

Jasmine Batten, supervisor for MDC's Wildlife Health Program, previously told the Globe that the Barry County positives were all reported south of Table Rock Lake.

Howell and Washington counties also identified their first positives during the most recent deer season.

MDC said it sampled and tested more than 32,000 deer for CWD between July 2021 and April 2022, and, in all, identified 86 new cases of CWD in 18 Missouri counties. That brings the total number of CWD cases found in Missouri to 292 since the first case in wild deer was found by MDC in early 2012, according to a news release. Since then, the agency has collected more than 210,000 tissue samples from deer statewide. The county with the most positives to date is Macon, in northern Missouri, with 57.

No positives have been identified in the state's elk herd, said Joe Jerek, spokesperson for MDC.

According to MDC, more than 18,700 deer tested during the most recent season were in mandatory CWD sampling counties, meaning hunters in those 34 counties had to present their deer for CWD testing.

"We are very grateful to the thousands of deer hunters who brought in their deer for CWD sampling, along with the 109 taxidermists and 34 meat processors across the state who collected and submitted more than 9,000 CWD samples," Batten said in a statement. "These important partners provide critical surveillance data, give hunters additional opportunities to have their deer tested, and ensure that meat from deer harvested in CWD Management Zone counties is tested before venison donations are sent to food pantries."

Batten was unavailable for comment Wednesday but previously told the Globe that there are likely multiple ways CWD has been introduced and spread around the state. Given the extensive CWD outbreak in northern Arkansas and the leading edge of that outbreak along the border, that seems the most likely origin source for Southwest Missouri counties.

CWD in Arkansas

Missouri officials have been monitoring the deer disease along the border because of the outbreak in Arkansas first confirmed in February 2016. It has since spread to 19 Arkansas counties. In all, Arkansas has reported 1,284 CWD cases in deer and 40 cases in its elk population.

The worst hit area is Newton County, Arkansas, where 733 CWD-positive deer and elk have been reported, and where that first case appeared nearly six years ago.

CWD has since been detected in a number of Arkansas border counties. As of March 31, there were nine positive cases reported in Benton County, up from six a year ago, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's latest sampling results. There have been 145 cases in Carroll County, up from 122 last year, and 207 cases in Boone County, up from 165 last year.

Arkansas also reported a positive for the first time in Randolph County, another border county farther east. The closest positive case to one that turned up in Randolph County is not in Arkansas, but in Oregon County, Missouri, roughly 25 miles away. According to MDC, 16 positive cases have been identified in Oregon County, including six during the last season.

Because of their proximity to those Arkansas counties, McDonald, Barry, Stone and Taney counties in Missouri are part of a state-designated CWD management zone, where testing was required last November during the modern firearms season.

No cases have been reported in Jasper, Newton, Lawrence or Barton counties in Southwest Missouri, but there was no mandatory testing required in those counties, which would affect the number of deer tested.

A total of eight cases had previously been identified out of Stone and Taney counties, all of those in the 2018-19 season.

A team of state and federal officials, as well as university experts, has begun researching CWD in Arkansas, and is capturing and monitoring deer over a five-year period. The study will focus on that state's Newton and Searcy counties, where the outbreak originated.

Andy Ostmeyer is the metro editor at the Globe. He is a graduate of Kansas State University who has worked at the Globe for 38 years. His email address is aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com.