CWD deer culling planned at Prairie State Park
Jan. 31—The Missouri Department of Conservation announced a "controlled culling" of deer in February at Prairie State Park, after a CWD case was found on private land near the park last November.
It was the first positive for chronic wasting disease in Barton County.
CWD is a fatal neurological illness that affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. The contagious disease can be transmitted freely within and among deer populations.
Controlled culling will begin Feb. 1 and will continue throughout the month.
Portions of the park may be closed and visitors should check the Park and Site Status Map online at mostateparks.com before visiting.
In a statement, the Missouri Department of Conservation said, "Localized removal of deer through targeted culling is an effective means to minimize the spread of CWD and reduce the rate the disease spreads through the deer population. Removing a greater number of potentially infected deer from the population can slow disease growth rates and minimize the amount of CWD contamination in the environment. Removing additional deer from where CWD has been detected can also help reduce disease transmission within the local population. Limiting population reductions only to areas where CWD is present helps reduce impacts to populations in the surround areas."
Hunting is prohibited in state parks, except for specially designated hunts and culling operations.
For information on trail closures, call the park office at 417-843-6711.
Barton, Vernon and Greene counties were added last year to the list of 38 counties that are now part of a designated CWD Management Zone, which are those counties where CWD has been found or those counties within 10 miles of where CWD has been found. At the time, no cases were reported in those three Southwest Missouri counties.
No cases have yet been confirmed out of Vernon or Greene counties, but 10 positives had previously been reported in adjacent St. Clair County and three were found in adjacent Cedar County. Positives also have showed up in Polk and Christian counties, both of which border Greene County.
So far this sampling season, which runs from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, 46 positives have been identified so far, all within previously designated CWD management zones.
That brings to 338 the number of CWD cases identified in Missouri, all in deer, since testing started in 2002.
No positives have been identified in the state's wild elk herd, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
