BATON ROUGE — State wildlife officials have imposed restrictions on baiting fields closer into Pointe Coupee Parish after a deer killed in a neighboring parish last month was found to be infected with chronic wasting disease.

The northern portions of Pointe Coupee Parish are now in a buffer zone around an enhanced mitigation zone aimed at controlling the spread of the disease's spread among deer. The recent case, involving a 3.5-year-old buck, was Louisiana's 49th confirmed case.

Johnathan Bordelon, the deer program manager at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told members of a legislative task force Wednesday that the infected deer was killed in the Richard K. Yancey Wildlife Management Area of Concordia Parish. Previous case were found at points to the north.

Rules governing supplemental feeding and baiting took effect Sunday, Bordelon said.

In Concordia Parish and parts of Catahoula Parish, supplemental feeding, placement of bait or hunting over bait is prohibited in the enhanced zone. In the northern part of Pointe Coupee Parish, roughly north of Batchelor and McCrea, supplemental feeding and baiting can occur only with non-stationary, mechanical or electronic broadcast methods.

The restrictions do not apply to bait allowed for feral hog trapping or bear hunting, as long as it is not normally eaten by deer.

Other restrictions apply on the transfer of deer heads and spinal columns, though with state permission deer heads can be taken to taxidermists. Applications are on the LDWF website.

The restrictions are in effect until July, but after a public comment period they could be extended.

"We didn't sample a sick deer. We sampled a healthy deer," Bordelon told the task force. "How many more animals? It's very difficult to say at this time."

He did note that after the first positive test in the management area, a second positive case hasn't occurred. Of more than 200 deer killed in the area in the first week of January, the state sampled more than 100 and found just the one positive case.

Bordelon also said that the state's deer harvest was up and that some parishes could set a record. Coastal parishes, however, had lower numbers, he sad.

To address concerns by task force member Chad Courville of Lafayette that property owners might be cast in a negative light despite the state's low infection rate, Bordelon said his agency doesn't identify the hunter or the specific location of the deer kill. 

"The department should keep that in mind so we don’t step into something we don’t want to get in the middle of," Courvilel said.

Chronic wasting disease occurrs in white-tailed deer and their relatives. Infected deer may exhibit symptoms of weight loss and emaciation, salivation, frequent drinking and urination, incoordination, circling and lack of human fear, and is always fatal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that while CWD has not been shown to be contagious for humans, people should avoid eating meat from infected animals.