The Wisconsin DNR confirms the first positive test result for chronic wasting disease in a wild deer in Waushara County. The deer was found dead in early February in the town of Wautoma which is within 10 miles of the Marquette and Portage county borders.
This detection will cause the following:
- Waushara County will renew the ban already in place.
- Marquette and Portage counties currently have three-year baiting and feeding bans in place from positive detections within the county, so this detection will not impact those counties.
The deer was a 3-year-old buck and is the first confirmed wild CWD-positive deer detected in Waushara County.
The DNR and the Waushara County Deer Advisory Council plan to host a public meeting. At the meeting, DNR staff will provide information about CWD in Wisconsin and local testing efforts within Waushara County. Look for more details here: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/calendar
State law requires that the DNR enact a three-year baiting and feeding ban in counties where CWD has been detected. The agency places a two-year ban in adjoining counties within 10 miles of a CWD detection. If additional CWD cases are found during the lifetime of a baiting and feeding ban, the ban will be renewed.
Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or indirectly by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces, and urine.
