MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont wildlife officials are reminding hunters who travel out of state that it’s illegal to import or possess most deer or elk from states and Canadian provinces that have had chronic wasting disease.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says the regulation is aimed at protecting the state’s deer herd from the fatal disease.
The disease affects the brain and nervous system in deer and elk. Officials say prion proteins could be introduced to the environment through the bodily fluids of infected deer and elk.
Some of the exceptions are boneless meat, and meat that is cut up, packaged and labeled with hunting license information and not mixed with other deer or elk during processing.