Tennessee deer hunters have just got a new tool for keeping their eyes on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk herds in the state and across North America.
Since its discovery, CWD has been a major concern to hunters and wildlife professionals alike. Part of the concern has been the difficulty that state and provincial wildlife agencies have in coordinating and communicating information about CWD to hunters and other interested publics. Officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and partners have had a CWD Response Plan in place since prior to first confirmation of the disease in the state in late 2018.
The Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance (CWDA) recently developed three online, CWD information mapping tools to help document, track, and manage the spread of CWD:
CWD in North America shows counties and wildlife management units in which CWD has been found in wild and/or captive cervid populations. Visit this site at https://cwd-info.org/map-chronic-wasting-disease-in-north-america.
CWD-Related Hunting Regulations shows CWD-related hunting regulations, maps of CWD-positive areas, and the CWD regulatory status of each state and province. Visit this site at https://cwd-info.org/cwd-hunting-regulations-map.
Carcass Transport Regulations will help users discover regulations impacting the transport of cervid carcasses from one state/province to another. It includes import, export, and pass-through regulations for cervid carcasses for every state and province. Visit this site at https://cwd-info.org/state-and-province-carcass-import-regulations.
Hunters can use the tools to plan hunting locations, consider their routes home from out-of-state hunts, or simply to learn more about CWD and state/provincial CWD management efforts.
These tools were built with funding from multi-state conservation grants. All these maps are driven by a single database managed and updated by state and provincial wildlife professionals.
To learn more about CWD and the CWDA visit CWD-Info.org. For specific information pertaining to Tennessee, visit https://www.tn.gov/twra/hunting/cwd/cwd-in-tennessee.html.
