Louisiana changes chronic wasting disease rules as scientists warn of risks
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers have tightened rules for when wildlife officials can restrict baiting and feeding near chronic wasting disease cases and advanced a bill that would legalize rehabilitation of white‑tailed deer, actions scientists say could undermine containment efforts.
The Louisiana Senate resolution directs the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to establish management zones within 5 and 15 miles of confirmed chronic wasting disease cases detected during annual surveillance, and to collect samples from up to 300 deer from July 1 to June 30 for testing, the resolution says. The measure ties restrictions on baiting and feeding to measured disease prevalence: if sampling shows less than 2.5% prevalence, baiting and feeding would be allowed; if prevalence exceeds 2.5% officials can restrict those activities in the 5‑ and 15‑mile zones, the resolution says. The measure also says baiting and feeding would be allowed if prevalence exceeds 20% of the projected population.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine houses the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, one of 31 U.S. Department of Agriculture‑approved labs to test for chronic wasting disease, and it tests as many as 120 samples a day during hunting season, according to LSU. Scientists warn that scaling back measures that keep healthy deer from infected animals and contaminated environments could increase spread of the fatal disease.
“Prions concentrate in the saliva, which is one of the more infectious bodily fluids, so bait piles can quickly become hotspots for transmission,” said Noelle Thompson, a wildlife health specialist and chronic wasting disease researcher. Thompson said prions remain infectious in soil for years and that allowing rehabilitation of deer “will certainly increase geographic spread of CWD.” Mark Zabel, a professor at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said infected deer can be disoriented and injured and that young animals may be infected without showing signs for up to a year.
The rehabilitation bill includes provisions requiring that deer suspected of having chronic wasting disease be reported, euthanized and tested, and that other deer at the same facility be euthanized if a positive result occurs, the bill states. Kimberly Graham, a Louisiana resident and advocate for the bill, told lawmakers she kept a fawn after its mother was killed and that wildlife agents later ordered the animal euthanized. The changes come as chronic wasting disease has been detected across North America; wildlife officials say the disease has spread into dozens of states and several Canadian provinces since first appearing in the 1960s.
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