The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) is upping the amount of deer to be checked for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), especially in northwest Alabama, after deer in Mississippi and Tennessee have recently tested positive for the deadly disease.

Chuck Sykes, director of the ACNR’s Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, told the MGM Advertiser that CWD was “three to five years” from showing up in the state and threatening a big chunk of the state’s hunting industry.

Alabama’s hunting industry has a $1.8 billion annual economic impact, per the Hunting Heritage Foundation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Chronic Wasting Disease affects North American cervids like deer, elk and moose. It is always fatal to the infected animal. CWD affects the brain, spinal cord, lymph node system and many other tissues in susceptible species.

The ADCNR’s website says that CWD is not known to be capable of infecting humans, and while “a variety of species can be experimentally infected with CWD, there is currently no evidence that the disease can be spread naturally from cervids to livestock.”

Alabama deer hunters can find a location to drop off samples for testing at these locations. The sample dropped off must include the head of the deer.

Hunters who drop off a deer for sampling should receive their results in three to four weeks.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.