CWD-positive test on Taylor County deer farm; more info expected soon
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) confirms that deer farms in Taylor and Sauk counties have tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). Results were confi rmed by the National Veterinary Service Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
Positive samples were taken from a 6-year-old doe in Taylor County and a 9-year-old buck in Sauk County. There is no connection between the two locations. The 227 white-tailed deer at the 22-acre double-fenced Taylor County farm and the two white-tailed deer at the 1-acre single-fenced Sauk County farm have been quarantined, meaning no live animals or whole carcasses are permitted to leave the property. The herds will remain under quarantine while an epidemiological investigation is conducted by DATCP and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) veterinarians and staff.
CWD is a fatal, neurological disease of deer, elk and moose caused by an infectious protein called a prion that affects the animal’s brain, and testing for CWD is typically only performed after the animal’s death. DATCP regulates deer farms for registration, recordkeeping, disease testing, movement and permit requirements.
More info pending
Under state statute 29.336 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is required to enact a ban on the baiting and feeding of deer in any county within 10 miles of a captive or free-roaming deer that tests positive for either CWD or bovine tuberculosis.
Since 2017, the law requires the ban stays in place until 36 months have passed since any confirmed positive tests within the county an 24 months within a 10-mile radius of the county.
The DNR has yet to release any public information regarding the Taylor County situation, but Joshua Spiegel, DNR wildlife biologist and CWD contact for the county, said that will be coming, especially considering the 2021 archery hunting season is set to begin soon on Saturday, Sept. 18.
“We’re still trying to work through this,” he said. “We found out basically the same time everyone else did through the DATCP release. I know there’s a lot of active stuff going on. There’s a lot of moving parts. The folks down in Madison and our wildlife health department are the ones doing everything right now. When they come out with the plan per se for this situation, they’ll release it, bring it to us and that’s when we’ll start reaching outward.”
Until now, Taylor County is one of just 18 counties remaining in the state not to be under a baiting and feeding ban. The primary goals of such a ban are to protect the local wild deer herd and reduce the spread of the disease.
