HARRISBURG, PA - The CWD-positive deer recently detected in Warren County has led to new regulations to reduce the risk of the disease spreading.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission today announced a new Disease Management Area – DMA 5 – has been established in Warren County, where Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was detected in a captive deer at a hunting preserve.
CWD affects members of the deer, or cervid, family, and the disease always is fatal to the deer and elk it infects. When a new CWD-positive is detected in either a wild or captive cervid in Pennsylvania, a Disease Management Area (DMA) is established. This reduces the risk of the human-assisted spread of CWD.
Within DMAs, it is unlawful to:
Remove or export any cervid high-risk parts
Use or possess cervid urine-based attractants
Directly or indirectly feed wild, free-ranging deer (it is already illegal to feed elk regardless of DMA location)
Rehabilitate wild, free-ranging cervids
For deer hunters in DMAs – especially those who live outside the DMA – it’s important to plan your hunt and know ahead of time what you’ll do with the deer you harvest. Since high-risk cervid parts can’t be removed from a DMA, successful hunters can’t transport whole deer outside the DMA. Hunters can take deer they harvest to a processor within the DMA, and the processor can properly dispose of the high-risk parts. Hunters can also dispose of high-risk parts in trash that is destined for a landfill or quarter the animal and leave the high-risk parts at the kill site. The meat, antlers (free of brain material) and other low-risk parts then can be transported outside the DMA.
Deer hunters getting taxidermy mounts also must take their harvests to a taxidermist within the DMA, or otherwise on the list of approved processors and taxidermists for the DMA in which they harvested the deer available at www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD.
The Game Commission offers free CWD testing within the DMAs. Hunters should deposit the heads of deer they harvest in one of the head-collection containers the Game Commission provides within DMAs. Antlers should be removed from bucks before the double-bagged head is placed in a collection container. Hunters then are notified of the test results.
While CWD never has been documented in humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends never eating the meat of a CWD-positive deer.
Much more information on CWD is available at www.pgc.pa.gov/CWD.
DMA 5 lies completely within Warren County and its exact boundary is as follows: Beginning in the northeastern extent of the DMA at the New York State line, at the intersection of the Allegheny River, proceed south on the west shore of the river for 27.8 miles to the bridge at Pennsylvania Ave. East (Business U.S. Route 6). Turn left on Pennsylvania Ave. East and proceed south for 0.1 miles to U.S. Route 6. Turn right, proceeding west on U.S. Route 6 for 11.6 miles to West Main Street (State Route 27) at Youngsville. Turn right sharply on West Main St., proceeding northeast for 0.5 miles to State Route 27 (Matthews Run Road). Turn left on State Route 27, proceeding north for 7.2 miles to the intersection of State Route 69 (Jackson Run Road). Turn left on State Route 69 proceeding north for 3 miles to the intersection of State Route 957 (Main Street) in Sugar Grove. Turn right on State Route 957, proceeding east for 0.2 miles to Jamestown Street. Turn slight left on Jamestown Street, proceeding north for 0.7 miles to where Jamestown Street becomes Busti Road. Continue north for 1 mile to the New York border. The boundary follows east along the border for 18.1 miles to the Allegheny River at the place of beginning.
MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau - 717-705-6541![]( "Call: 717-705-6541")
# # #