Chronic Wasting Disease continues to spread in Wisconsin, primarily in the state’s many game farms, with the latest CWD discovery in Marinette County.
Because of the finding, baiting and feeding of deer will be prohibited in Marinette County. Baiting and feeding currently are banned in adjoining Oconto and Forest counties, as well as Shawano, Waupaca, Menominee, Langlade and 47 other counties where CWD-positive deer were found or counties within 10 miles of a CWD-positive deer. However, a 2017 law change limited the time baiting and feeding could be banned to three years, if no other cases of CWD or bovine tuberculosis were found in that county, or two years if no other cases of CWD or TB were found within 10 miles of that county.
To see a full map of the counties where baiting and feeding are banned, go to www.dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/bait.html
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) this week confirmed that a white-tailed deer from a breeding farm in Marinette County tested positive for CWD, a fatal, neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by an infectious protein that affects the animal’s brain. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the test results and the farm is under quarantine. No animals may move in or out of the farm during the quarantine.
The 2-year-old doe was born on the 230-acre farm and died during fawning, according to a DATCP press release. The fenced farm has 320 whitetail deer, according to the owner’s most recent registration. The farm had not been enrolled in the CWD Herd Status Program since May 2017. The farm was enrolled in the program since 2002. The voluntary program is required if the deer farm wishes to move deer within or outside of Wisconsin. The farm also must be enrolled in the program for at least five years in order to move deer.
More information about CWD testing requirements for farms enrolled and non-enrolled in the program can be found on the DATCP website.
DATCP’s Animal Health Division will investigate the animal’s history and trace movements of deer onto and off the farm to determine whether other herds may have been exposed to the CWD-positive deer.
Testing for CWD can only be performed after the deer’s death. DATCP is the agency that regulates deer farms for registration, recordkeeping, disease testing, movement, and permit requirements.
CWD is easy to spread between deer that eat close to each other because bodily fluids, including saliva, can pass it on. This is why a baiting and feeding ban is so important, but the weakened 2017 law just encourages further spread of the disease. CWD prions also can remain in contaminated soil for years.
Although tighter rules on deer farm fencing and a new DATCP rule banning the movement of live deer from deer farms in CWD-affected counties can help a bit, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has actually been doing less testing for the disease since 2010, according to state Rep. Dana Wachs, D-Eau Claire, who with fellow Rep. Nick Milroy, D-South Range, introduced the Save Our Deer Act last year. Wachs noted that Michigan and Missouri have increased CWD testing.
If testing isn’t convenient for hunters, which will supply the majority of wild deer for potential testing, then it’s probably not going to happen. Road kills must be relatively fresh for testing.
The elimination of deer registration stations is certainly a great convenience for hunters, but it also made it much harder to get samples for CWD testing.
This disease certainly goes beyond two-party politics and is an absolute threat to our still-thriving deer herd and the $1 billion deer hunting industry. With each new county claimed, CWD’s spread is like a movie contagion, only this one’s real.
I think it’s beyond time to take a harder look at tighter deer farm regulations and a statewide ban on all baiting and feeding of deer. It’s ironic that those who want to “put a little corn out to help the deer” are potentially helping to destroy the state’s deer herd.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.