MADISON — The National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) confirmed that 21 whitetails from a deer farm in Iowa County tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). On May 18, a team comprised of Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service veterinarians and animal health technicians humanely depopulated the farm’s 103 whitetail deer. CWD testing was done for 79 of those deer that were 16 months or older.
The deer farm had been quarantined since October when DATCP confirmed a deer shot on a hunting ranch in Waupaca County tested positive for CWD and was traced back to the farm. Since then, 10 additional deer harvested from the Waupaca County hunting ranch tested positive for CWD and were traced back to the Iowa County deer farm. State and federal indemnity payments are in the process of being determined.
CWD is a fatal, neurological disease of deer, elk, and moose caused by an infectious protein that affects the animal’s brain. Testing for CWD can only be performed after the deer’s death. For more information about CWD visit DATCP’s website. DATCP regulates deer farms for registration, recordkeeping, disease testing, movement, and permit requirements. To learn more about deer farm regulations in Wisconsin, visit DATCP’s farm-raised deer program. The Department of Natural Resources also provides resources for CWD and monitors the state’s wild white-tailed deer for CWD.
— Wisconsin Department of Agriculture
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