The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirms a wild deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Buffalo County in the town of Lincoln. The deer was a hunter harvested 2-year-old doe and is the first confirmed wild deer CWD-positive detection in Buffalo County.
As required by state law, the DNR enacts a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in counties where CWD has been detected. Deer baiting and feeding have been banned in Buffalo County since 2018 due to CWD detections in adjacent counties. Following state law, the DNR will renew a 3-year baiting and feeding ban in Buffalo County.
Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where sick deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces and urine.
The DNR asks deer hunters in Buffalo County to assist with efforts to identify where CWD occurs. Those harvesting deer within 10 miles of the newly detected CWD-positive case are especially encouraged to have their harvested adult deer tested for CWD. Collecting CWD samples is essential for assessing where and to what extent CWD occurs in deer across the state.
More information regarding baiting and feeding regulations is available on the DNR webpage.
Categories: Wisconsin, Rural Lifestyle