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MDC to close Lost Valley Hatchery Nov. 11 for CWD testing
WARSAW, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Lost Valley Fish Hatchery and visitor center will be closed Saturday Nov. 11. MDC will be using the hatchery’s visitor parking lot for collecting tissue samples from white-tailed deer harvested by hunters to test for chronic wasting disease (CWD).
Lost Valley’s visitor center will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10. Also on that day, the front desk only will be open from 4 to 10 p.m. to provide hunting permit sales for the regular firearms fall deer season. The Hatchery will also be closed to visitors as normal on Sundays and Mondays, including Nov. 12-13.
MDC is testing harvested deer for CWD to prevent the spread of the deadly deer disease. Hunters who harvest deer in 25 select counties during the opening weekend of the fall firearms deer season, Nov. 11 and 12, must present their harvested deer at one of 56 CWD sampling locations so MDC staff can collect tissue samples for disease testing. Lost Valley Hatchery is one CWD sampling location. For more information about CWD, mandatory sampling, and sampling stations, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/cwd.