The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reminds residents of Boone, Carroll, Johnson, Logan, Madison, Marion, Newton, Pope, Searcy and Yell counties that feeding wildlife outside of the Sept. 1-Dec. 31 baiting season is prohibited.
Hunters also are reminded that a statewide ban on the use of scents and lures that contain natural deer urine also began Jan. 1. Both regulations were passed in June 2016 in response to the discovery of chronic wasting disease in Arkansas.
Cory Gray, research biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said there are exceptions to the restriction on feeding wildlife.
"People can still have bird feeders, and feed wildlife by hand like the ducks at the park," Gray said. "And any feeding of wildlife that's the incidental result of a normal agricultural operation is allowed. Food plots are OK. We're just looking at feeders and baiting sites."
Many regulations concerning the disease were implemented to prevent its spread across the state, but feeding restrictions target a different goal.
"We want to slow the spread of the disease over the landscape," Gray said. "But we also want to slow its spread within the population where we know it is established."
Feeding unnaturally concentrates deer into small areas, where nose-to-nose contact is increased and the infectious agent of the disease, prions, become concentrated. Repeated use of the same baiting sites also can create a "hot zone" where these prions can exist indefinitely, infecting deer long after the initial carrier is gone.
Game and Fish biologists wanted to limit baiting and feeding on a statewide level initially, but supplemental feeding and baiting have become such a part of Arkansas deer hunting that many hunters felt a statewide restriction unnecessary.
Baiting is allowed in all other counties of the state, and it's even allowed from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 in the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone. Baiting is used to bring animals in for harvest during the majority of deer season, so it helps decrease deer density, another goal in fighting the spread of the disease.
Many landowners and deer clubs offer feed on a near year-round basis. Most believe they are helping deer and other wildlife with added nutrition. Some hunters even say they want to give deer these added nutrients to fight off disease or prevent infection.
Jennifer Ballard, the commission's veterinarian, said those efforts are in vain.
"The premise is understandable, because with many diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungal infections or parasites, the healthier an animal is, the better immune response it will have and the better it can fight off the disease," Ballard said. "But with prions, the infectious agent in CWD, animals really don't mount an immune response, no matter how healthy they are. It's a different kind of disease."
Ballard explained feeding deer that have chronic wasting disease may only prolong the amount of time the animal is spreading the disease.
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Sports on 01/17/2017