It is now illegal to rehabilitate white-tailed deer in Tennessee

Now that they’ve dropped their fawns across Tennessee in May and June, the state is in the process of implementing a new law designed to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease. Wildlife rehabilitators are now banned from treating white-tailed deer due to concerns that CWD could spread more quickly across the state.

The recent change in law was a recommendation presented by TWRA and approved by the state Wildlife Commission last summer to “better align with the CWD Management Plan and to reduce the spread of the disease,” said TWRA spokesperson Emily Buck Outdoor living“It … changed the rules for the rehabilitation and transport of all white-tailed deer, not just young deer.”

People often drive fawns long distances to rehabilitation centers, and fawns are often transported similar distances when they are released back into the wild. according to TWRAThe new ban is consistent with modern CWD mitigation protocols used by many other states. In Texas, for example, the transport of live, captive deer is prohibited until the deer tests negative for CWD.

“The goal was to stop the transportation of live deer,” Buck said of Tennessee’s rule change. “Because rehabilitating deer often required them to be transported across county lines, it was an unfortunate but necessary decision to ensure the agency was proactive in slowing the spread of CWD.”

So far, chronic wasting disease has been identified in 16 counties in West Tennessee. Another five counties are considered high risk for the spread of CWD. The highest concentrations of infections are in Fayette and Hardeman counties, both of which border northern Mississippi.

“They’re really being proactive with this decision because we don’t want this to become an issue that we have to deal with,” said Joanna Prosser, director of Walden’s Puddle Animal Care. WKRN. “We would have to close our center if the infection reached us. So they are doing this to prevent it from becoming a problem.”

One positive outcome of the new law is that the public will be less likely to “rescue” whitetail calves that appear abandoned. In many cases, perfectly healthy calves are captured and taken to rehabilitation centers. The public must report calves that are visibly injured. to TWRAIf a deer is not visibly injured, do not touch it and move away.

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“It is best to leave the fawn where you found it, as the doe will return to nurse the fawn when it is safe,” TWRA advises. “Once you have picked up the fawn, return it to the location where it was found.”