JACKSON (AP) — Persistent flooding across Mississippi wildlife management areas has decimated some wildlife habitats and food supplies, leading the state to allow supplemental deer feeding in two counties.

The executive director of the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks said deer stuck on flooded levee have depleted their resources. Russ Walsh says the stressed deer are in bad shape.

Resident Melissa Lyons raises two cattle on the levee and says “the only things thriving are the buzzards.”

She says the deer are starved and weak, and her husband recently removed 20 dead deer from their hay field.

Supplemental feeding requires a wildlife agency permit that expires this fall.

The affected counties are Issaquena and Warren Counties.