DNR: Whirling Disease In Trout Bought For Stocking
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says whirling disease has been found in a delivery of 8,000 trout stocked in several western Maryland streams.
The department announced Thursday that DNR staff stopped stocking on May 11 after suspicious behavior was observed in fish being placed in the North Branch Delayed Harvest Area, Evitts Creek, Jennings Run and Sidling Hill Creek. Tests later confirmed the presence of the parasitic disease, which is not harmful to humans but fatal to trout. The department said it will not accept further shipments from the unidentified vendor until an investigation is completed.
DNR says the disease was first discovered in Maryland in 1995 in the North Branch of the Potomac and that is the only area where it has become established.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
