JACKSON — Officials say a third case of a debilitating deer disease has been confirmed in Mississippi.
The state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks tells the Clarion Ledger that additional tests confirm a white-tailed deer found in Issaquena County had chronic wasting disease.
The contagious and fatal neurological disease causes deer to have tremors and other movement problems and lose weight. The disease is present in 24 other states.
Mississippi’s first case was found about 6 miles away in January.
The department says of 1,200 deer that it’s tested since Oct. 1, two have been positive. That second case was in northeast Mississippi’s Pontotoc County.
Wildlife Bureau director Russ Walsh says the state is trying to determine the disease’s prevalence.
Officials encourage hunters to submit killed deer for testing.
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