By JOE JEREK
Mo. Dept. of Conservation
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports 15 free-ranging Missouri deer have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) out of nearly 18,400 test results received so far for the season. The 15 new cases consist of:
* One from Cedar County from a hunter-harvested adult buck,
* Three from Franklin County from hunter-harvested adult bucks,
* One from Jefferson County from a hunter-harvested adult buck,
* Four from Linn County from hunter-harvested adult bucks,
* Two from Macon County from a hunter-harvested adult buck and a hunter-harvested adult doe,
* One from Polk County from a road-killed adult buck,
* One from St. Clair County from a hunter-harvested adult buck, and
* Two from Ste. Genevieve County from a hunter-harvested adult buck and a hunter-harvested adult doe.
MDC also reports no additional cases of CWD have been found in central Missouri, where a single case of CWD was confirmed in Cole County in early 2015.
The 18,400 test results MDC has received so far include nearly 16,000 samples collected from hunter-harvested deer during MDC's CWD mandatory sampling efforts Nov. 11 and 12. Results also include about 2,400 tissue samples collected for CWD testing throughout the state over several months prior to and after the mandatory sampling weekend.
The 15 new CWD positives bring the total number of cases detected in free-ranging deer in Missouri to 57, with 10 found in Adair, one in Cedar, one in Cole, seven in Franklin, two in Jefferson, five in Linn, 25 in Macon, one in Polk, three in St. Clair, and two in Ste. Genevieve counties.