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Commission OKs regulations to curb chronic wasting disease

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The Michigan Natural Resources Commission has approved new deer hunting regulations aimed at stopping the spread of a deadly disease among deer.

The commission’s action Thursday came after months input from hunters, residents and others.

Chronic wasting disease affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and moose. It’s spread through saliva and other body fluids of infected animals. The fatal neurological disease has been confirmed in 60 free-ranging deer in Clinton, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm counties since 2015.

Many of the rules will be in effect for the 2018 deer seasons. They include limits on urine-based lures for deer; a ban on baiting and feeding in an expanded 16-county CWD Management Zone; restrictions on deer carcass movement in some counties; and expanded deer hunting in the CWD Management Zone.