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The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission adopted regulations for the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Control Area in northeast Louisiana. The current CWD Control Area includes all of Tensas Parish and portions of Madison and Franklin parishes. 

The regulations are intended to reduce further spread of the disease.

The regulations are in response to a CWD positive detection on Jan. 28, 2022 of an adult buck harvested in Tensas Parish. CWD is a neurodegenerative disease of white-tailed deer and other members of the deer family. The disease is infectious, always fatal, and has no known treatment.

The disease can be transmitted from live deer, deer carcasses or other environmental sources such as plants or soil contaminated from exposure to CWD positive deer or deer carcasses. To learn more about CWD and complete regulations, go to: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cwd

Here is a summary of CWD Control Area regulations:

• All supplemental feeding, including mineral or salt licks, is prohibited within the Franklin, Madison and Tensas Parishes CWD Control Area. The purpose of this feeding ban is to reduce the potential for the spread of CWD through artificial congregation of deer at bait sites. 
• The use of approved bait not normally ingested by deer for feral hog trapping will be allowed.
• The export of cervids, cervid carcasses or parts of cervid carcasses originating within the Franklin, Madison and Tensas Parish CWD Control Area is prohibited, except for: meat that is cut and wrapped; meat that has been boned out; quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached, antlers, clean skull plates with antlers, cleaned skulls without tissue attached, capes, tanned hides, finished taxidermy mounts and cleaned cervid teeth.

• Export exceptions for taxidermy, which require a permit, have been established. The deer head waiver permit must be completed before moving the deer head outside of the CWD Control Area to a taxidermy business. The permit is available on the LDWF CWD webpage.