Louisiana task force expands CWD control area, LDWF details testing, baiting and carcass rules

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries outlined on Sept. 4 the state's response to chronic wasting disease (CWD), including an expanded control area that took effect by commission declaration and a pending rule due to be final on Sept. 20 that would ban baiting in core areas and limit how hunters may move deer carcasses.

Jonathan Bordelon, Deer Program Manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told the Chronic Wasting Disease Task Force that the department has detected 39 CWD-positive deer in Tensas Parish since 2022 and one confirmed detection in northern Catahoula Parish this year. Bordelon said those 39 positives came from roughly 1,300 sampled animals in the Tensas area and that statewide surveillance has included more than 21,000 samples since 2002.

Why it matters: CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that Bordelon described as "100 percent fatal," spreads via direct animal contact and via environmental contamination, and can persist in soils for years. Early detection and limiting disease transmission are central to the state's stated strategy because research and other states' experience show prevalence can grow rapidly once it passes a low threshold.

Bordelon summarized measures the department currently recommends or is implementing: expansion of the department's CWD control area (the commission approved a declaration of emergency that expanded a previously established control area; the declaration became effective May 1), an enhanced mitigation zone inside that control area where baiting and stationary feeders would be prohibited, and carcass-movement restrictions across the entire CWD control area. The notice of intent (NOI) for the rule was published ahead of a scheduled Sept. 20 rule effective date.

Key details explained at the meeting:
- Baiting and feeding: In the CWD enhanced mitigation zone (the map shows a cross-hatched core area nearest detections), baiting and stationary feeding are prohibited. The NOI allows limited broadcast feeding by non-stationary means (for example, a mechanically driven spreader on a vehicle) in the outer buffer portion of the control area; the distinction is intended to reduce artificial congregation of deer in core areas nearest positives. Bordelon said the regulation language specifies "mechanical or electronic" broadcast methods.
- Carcass movement: Across the full CWD control area, hunters may possess and move certain processed parts (e.g., deboned meat, quarters without head or backbone), but whole heads and spines are restricted. The department also allows a taxidermy waiver program completed online in advance: the taxidermist must double-bag and dispose of non-mounted parts in a lined landfill.
- Testing access: LDWF is using hunter-harvested deer for surveillance and has set up approximately 16 drop-off sheds in northeast Louisiana to give hunters 24/7 access to sample submission. Hunters who provide samples receive a QR-coded receipt to check test results online; LDWF staff contact hunters if a sample tests positive.
- DMAP adjustments: The Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) tier-1 changes remain in effect in proximity to detections: landowners within 5 miles of a detection may enroll at no cost and the minimum acreage requirement was reduced from 1,000 to 40 acres to provide additional tags and season flexibility.

Questions and stakeholder concerns: Task force members and attendees asked how people will know exactly whether their property is inside the control area. Bordelon said the department's Louisiana Outdoor Explorer interactive map (satellite imagery with layers) will display the control-area boundaries after Sept. 20; staff also offered to help hunters by phone or at regional offices. Several members raised enforcement and compliance questions (for example, how officers will treat manual spreading of bait from a moving vehicle), and Bordelon said enforcement has discretion and that enforcement staff will emphasize education in the first year.

Participants also pressed the department for follow-up presentations: multiple members requested a similar briefing from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry on its authorities and policies for captive cervid facilities and on carcass-movement rules in other states; task force members also requested an enforcement briefing for a future meeting.

Other technical and program points covered:
- CWD basics: Bordelon described an incubation period often exceeding 16 months (commonly two to four years) and said infection is most commonly detected by sampling retropharyngeal (retro-pharyngeal) lymph nodes and, in some cases, brain stem tissue (obex). He said some experimental evidence supports long environmental persistence of prions and, experimentally, plant uptake.
- Surveillance and telemetry: LDWF has automated data systems (QR codes, smartphone data entry) to reduce mislabeling. Ongoing telemetry projects are tracking deer movements; Bordelon displayed an example of a young buck that moved more than 14 miles and crossed the Mississippi River, underlining why the department uses wide control-area buffers when possible.
- Outreach: LDWF plans public outreach including short animated videos produced with other states and additional contracted messaging this fall in northeast Louisiana to increase hunter and landowner awareness.

Votes and formal actions at the meeting: The task force adopted the meeting agenda (motion by Senator Glenn Womack; no objection recorded). The meeting closed on a motion to adjourn moved by task force member Andy Brister and adopted without objection. Members set the next task force meeting for Oct. 2, 2025, at 2 p.m. at the Capitol and asked for additional briefings at future meetings.

What the department did not claim or could not specify: Bordelon emphasized that the number of positives reported represents detected positives, not an estimate of total positives on the landscape. Estimates of total prevalence or a timetable for long-term outcomes were not presented; where LDWF lacked precise local processor counts or the exact number of participating processors it said those figures were "not specified" and offered to provide follow-up details.

Ending: Task force members asked LDWF to return with additional technical briefings (including the Department of Agriculture and Forestry and enforcement) and to expand outreach materials. The task force set its next meeting for Oct. 2, 2025, to continue discussion of surveillance, mitigation options and stakeholder impacts.