The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) confirms that a Dodge County deer farm has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The result was confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The positive sample was taken from a 9-year-old doe. The 8-acre farm has been placed under quarantine, meaning no live animals or whole carcasses are permitted to leave the property. The herd will remain under quarantine while an epidemiological investigation is conducted by DATCP and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) veterinarians and staff.
A wild deer also tested positive for CWD in Wood County in the town of Rudolph. The deer was a 3-year-old doe, reported sick and dispatched by local department staff.
This is the second confirmed CWD-positive wild deer detected in Wood County. This positive is also within 10 miles of the Portage County border.
As required by state law, the DNR enacts three-year baiting and feeding bans in counties where CWD has been detected and two-year bans in adjoining counties that lie within 10 miles of a CWD detection.
This recent detection of CWD in Wood County will renew a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in the county. Portage County is also within 10 miles of the harvest location but is already under a longer three-year baiting and feeding ban due to positive CWD detections within the county.
More information regarding baiting and feeding regulations is available on the DNR’s Baiting and Feeding Regulations webpage.
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 official 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.
Leave a Reply