The Department of Wildlife Resources expanded two of its chronic wasting disease (CWD) disease management areas (DMAs) as a result of the surveillance effort during the 2022-23 deer hunting season.
DWR also expanded its deer feeding ban.
Area 1
The counties included in DMA1 include Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah, and Warren.
As of March 3, of the 435 deer sampled, 30 tested positive for CWD with the breakdown as follows:
· Frederick: 24 infected deer
· Shenandoah: 4 infected deer
· Warren: 1 infected deer
· Clarke: 1 infected deer
DWR said it’s not expecting to make any change to the DMA1 boundaries for the 2023-24 deer hunting season.
Area 2
DMA2 consists of Culpeper, Fauquier, Loudoun, Madison, Page, Orange, and Rappahannock counties. There, a total of 1,638 but only five were infected with CWD with the breakdown as follows:
· Loundon: 3 infected deer
· Madison: 1 infected deer
· Culpeper: 1 infected deer
DWR also reported there was one positive case in Fairfax, which was traced to Vienna. That was that county’s first case.
Because of that, DWR is expanding this management area to include Fairfax, Prince William, and Arlington counties for the 2023-24 deer hunting season.
Doing so will impose regulations in the three added counties starting May 1. These include a prohibition on white-tailed deer fawn rehabilitation and restrictions on carcass transports. Whole deer carcasses and any parts containing brain /or spinal cord tissues originating from Fairfax, Prince William, or Arlington may only be transported to locations within Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, Loudoun, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Culpeper, Page, Madison, Orange, Frederick, Clarke, Warren, and Shenandoah counties.
Area 3
DMA3 consisted of Floyd, Montgomery, Carroll, and Pulaski counties. Of the 1,170 deer sampled , eight were confirmed to be infected with CWD as follows:
· Montgomery: 4 infected deer
· Floyd: 3 infected deer
· Pulaski: 1 infected deer
The Pulaski case was the county’s first.
Due to chronic wasting disease in Surry County, NC, Virginia authorities are adding Patrick County to DMA3 for next deer hunting season.
As with area 2, this means regulatory actions, including the prohibition on white-tailed deer fawn rehabilitation and restrictions on carcass transports. Whole deer carcasses and any parts containing brain or spinal cord tissues originating from Patrick County may only be transported to locations within Patrick, Carroll, Floyd, Montgomery, and Pulaski counties.
Feeding deer is prohibited year-round within 25 miles of a CWD detection. DWR has added Augusta and Fluvanna to the year-round feeding ban due to positive detection in Madison County. That ban goes into effect immediately.
In Virginia, 178 deer from thirteen counties have tested positive for chronic wasting disease since 2009, DWR reported.
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