Editorial

Halloween comes early

For those Arkies who are also outdoorsmen--and there are hundreds of thousands of us--Bryan Hendricks' columns twice a week in this newspaper are must-reads. But who knew our Pine Thicket Correspondent was a horror writer, too?

Last weekend, his column dealt with Chronic Wasting Disease, an affliction that targets deer, mostly. It is always fatal to deer, can't be slowed down by vaccines or drugs, and is highly transmittable. A deer can catch the bug from another deer--or even plants the other deer has come into contact with. This is nasty business.

According to Bryan Hendricks' reporting, if CWD is found in a county here, the state might be forced to quarantine that county--and not allow deer meat to be transported from that county. How many folks in Arkansas live in big counties like Pulaski or Benton, but hunt in more rural places?

Here's the kicker from Bryan Hendricks' Sunday column: "Remember that elk are vulnerable to CWD, too. Mike Knoedl, the [state's Game and Fish] director, said that if CWD is detected in a wild elk in the Buffalo River area, the entire herd will have to be eradicated, and it won't be re-established."

Holy moly.

Here's hoping that the Game and Fish Commission--those same folks who've brought back the white tail deer and turkey populations--are as successful fending off Chronic Wasting Disease. Because if they can't, well, Stephen King doesn't get this scary.

Editorial on 10/10/2015

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