Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News
— ROMNEY, W.Va. — The annual nocturnal shooting of deer in the Slanesville area by West Virginia Division of Natural Resources crews will resume March 23 and continue through April 15, according to Rich Rogers, district wildlife biologist.
The deer are killed and sampled to monitor the occurrence of chronic wasting disease and to help prevent the spread of the fatal illness that has been documented to exist in that area.
“We have had much cooperation from dozens of landowners in the Slanesville area and we very much appreciate that,” Rogers said Thursday. “We usually don’t kill more than four or five on any one property. We work out with the landowner how many deer he wants us to take.”
Chronic wasting disease is a neurological ailment found in deer and elk. It belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalo-pathies. The disease attacks the brain, causing the animal to progressively become emaciated, display abnormal behavior and eventually die. There is no evidence that CWD poses a risk for humans.
Rogers said late-March, early-April time slot is chosen so the work will be done before spring gobbler season opens. “In most years it also lets us go into fields without tearing them up, though this year that may be more difficult,” he said.
Also, the shooting of pregnant does keeps fawns from being abandoned if the shooting would be done after the birthing period.
“We can tell the difference between bucks and does,” Rogers said. “We only shoot bucks if the landowner gives us permission.”
Rogers said the results of the testing for CWD are kept confidential between the state agency and the individual landowner. “We’ll let people know in an overall sense how many deer tested positive, but won’t specify from which properties they came,” he said.
