Wisconsin Ag Connection - DNR May Buy Game Farm to Prevent Spread of CWD

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DNR May Buy Game Farm to Prevent Spread of CWD
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 03/14/2011

In a rare move, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is seeking permission from its governing board to purchase a Portage County game farm to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. During the DNR Board meeting on March 23, the agency will lay out a proposal to buy Hall Farm, which was the state's first operation to have animals test positive for CWD back in 2002.

The whitetail deer operation had been operated by Stan Hall until 2006 when the USDA closed it down due to its CWD outbreak.

"To our knowledge this was the most heavily infected herd found anywhere in North America with 80-percent of the animals infected," said Kurt Thiede, land administrator for DNR. "Science tells us CWD prions can survive for years in the soil and that healthy deer can become infected by contacting those prions. We believe that there is an unacceptable potential risk of wild deer being exposed to CWD-causing prions should the current fencing be damaged or removed. Purchasing this property is the best assurance we can give that deer-proof fences are maintained and the wild herd protected."

The DNR's recently adopted Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan 2010-2025 sets a goal to minimize the area of Wisconsin where CWD occurs and the number of infected deer in the state.

Since 2002, over 1,200 Portage County wild deer have been tested for CWD with no positives.

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