(The Center Square) – Chronic wasting disease was found in a wild deer in La Crosse County during the state’s annual gun-hunting season, meaning there will now be a two-year baiting ban in the county.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources collects samples each year to detect the disease, which is a fatal, infectious nervous system ailment. The disease can be transmitted through deer-to-deer contact.
Baiting and feeding causes deer to unnaturally group together and a shared food source can lead to the spread of the disease through saliva, blood, feces and urine.
La Crosse County was already under a two-year baiting and feeding ban, which will now go for three years.
Monroe and Vernon counties currently have a three-year baiting and feeding bans in place due to separate positive tests.
The Wisconsin DNR began its program of monitoring the white-tailed deer population in 1999 and the first positive tests appeared in 2002.
The DNR sets up priority areas due to prior positive tests.
Part of the management of CWD includes hunters properly disposing of carcasses, preventing the spread of the disease from an infected deer. Moving a carcass to a new area and not disposing of it properly can lead to further spread.
