Recent Case Of CWD Has Deer Processors On High Alert

MACON, Miss. (WCBI)- Friday evening was business as usual at Murray’s Deer Processing in Macon.

It was just before noon when the owner, Leroy Murray, and one of his employees had just finished processing an animal.

“I do a deer in probably about 40 minutes, 40 to 50 minutes,” said Leroy Murray, owner of Murray’s Deer Processing.

Murray first started his deer processing company nearly 10 years ago.

“You can bring them to me dead, or either you can bring them to me already skinned out,” said Murray.

The Noxubee County butcher admits, with cases of Chronic Wasting Disease steadily being found in deer throughout the state, its giving him and his business a slight scare.

A third case of CWD has been confirmed in Mississippi, this time in Issaquena County, which is also where the first case was reported earlier this year.

The other case was found in Pontotoc in October.

“I got a picture of what it looks like and all of that, and if I see anything that looks suspicious I will call,” said Murray.

Murray said with CWD being found in the Delta deer herd, he carefully examines each piece of processed meat in his shop.

“It’s on the inside of their ribs,” the owner expressed. “The picture I got, it got kind of like a little bubbles in there on the rib cage, and I haven’t seen any case like that.”

So far, there have been no cases of CWD reported in Noxubee County, but that isn’t slowing down Murray from keeping his customers safe.

The Noxubee County business owner carefully examines each piece of processed meat to make sure no contaminated packaged meat.

“When I’m skinning them I check them out and see if I see anything different from normal,” Murray explained. “The ones that have been coming in are real fleshy and all, so if they did have it I would look more into it and maybe even call the game warden to see what I need to do about it.”

The Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks wants hunters to submit samples of their deer after it’s been killed to help them stop the disease from spreading.

Experts recommend everyone not eating the deer meat until after all test results have been returned.