CWD: second positive result

The news keeps get ting worse for New York's &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/region/2002/04/25/27998.html ' target=_blank>Department of Environmental Conservation with chronic wasting disease showing up in wild whitetail deer in Oneida County.

The DEC said it received two positive results for the disease out of 292 wild deer sampled.

The first positive result was announced last week, and it came from a yearling whitetail sampled from the town of Verona. The second positive result is from a 3-year-old doe, located within a mile of the location where the first wild deer with CWD was detected.

New York State has implemented emergency regulations regarding the handling, transport and management of deer in the state.

The DEC said it filed emergency regulations to ensure proper handling of deer in an effort to prevent further spread of CWD. The regulations will establish a containment area in Oneida County. Initially, it will include the cities of Rome, Sherrill, Utica and Oneida, and the towns of Floyd, Marcy, Whitestown, Westmoreland, Verona, Vernon, Kirkland and New Hartford.

The new rules will prohibit movement of certain animal parts out of the containment area, establish mandatory check stations for any deer taken by hunters in the containment area, and prohibit possession of any deer killed by a motor vehicle so the DEC can acquire specimens for testing, reports the New York Times.

To prevent the spread of disease, current Wildlife Commission policy prevents feeding of big game animals in areas where CWD is known to occur. While CWD has not been found in the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/comp/2002/06/27/31314.html ' target=_blank>Gunnison area, the number of heads submitted for testing in past years has been insufficient to provide a statistically valid biological sample.