Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced the creation of a new Chronic Wasting Disease Management Area (DMA) and the expansion of DMA 2 and DMA 4. The creation of the new DMA 7 was due to a detection of CWD at a captive deer facility in Lycoming County.
DMA 7 is about 450 square miles and will cover portions of Lycoming, Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, and Sullivan counties.
DMA 2 is expanding in two locations due to CWD detections in both wild and captive deer. In early 2021, it was expanded to include all or parts of Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Indiana, Juniata, Mifflin, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Somerset, Union, and Westmoreland counties.
DMA 4 will also expand after CWD detection in a captive facility in southern Lancaster County. The expansion will follow the Susquehanna River south to the Maryland border and follow the Octoraro Creek north to where it meets the current boundary.
Within a DMA, it is unlawful to remove or export any high-risk parts of deer, use or possess cervid urine-based attractants, feed wild deer or rehabilitate wild deer. It is already illegal to feed elk in all parts of the state.
CWD affects members of the deer, or cervid, family, and the disease always is fatal to the deer and elk it infects. While there is no evidence of CWD being documented in humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend consuming the meat of a CWD-positive animal.
Contact the Game Commission’s CWD Hotline at 1-833-INFOCWD, email INFOCWD@pa.gov or visit https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ddfce74f89d24a91b116a84ddf126ac6