Olympia – Wildlife officials are getting closer to making a final decision on permanent rules for limiting the spread of chronic wasting disease in Washington, including proposed statewide bans on feeding wildlife and using bait to hunt deer, elk and moose.

Hundreds of people across the state have weighed in on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s plans for stemming the spread of the always-fatal disease, and the agency held a public hearing on the rules on Tuesday.

Most proposals have drawn little to no controversy, such as the expansion of carcass transport restrictions and mandatory testing for hunter-killed and salvaged elk, deer and moose.

But the agency’s proposals to ban feeding those animals and using bait to hunt them have people riled up. On the agency’s public comment website, opponents claim that banning bait amounts to an attack on hunters.

Supporters argue banning the practice is long overdue, and they back F&W’s argument that bait stations and backyard feeding create artificial concentrations of wildlife that could exacerbate the spread of the disease.

The public comment period for the rules ends Friday. F&W Director Kelly Susewind is expected to issue a final decision later this month. To comment on the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) proposed rules related to Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), including those regarding hunting seasons and wildlife feeding, you can visit the WDFW website (wdfw.wa.gov/newsroom/news-release/public-comment-periods-open-washington-hunting-season-wildlife-feeding-proposals and submit comments online, via email, by phone, or by mail.

The decision will set the foundation for a long-term battle with CWD, which WDFW detected for the first time last July. The disease has been found in 36 states, including in eastern Washington. There are no known cases in western Washington.

(WDFW photo of elk with CWD)