CWD-positive white-tailed deer found on Shawano County hunting ranch

CWD-positive white-tailed deer found on Shawano County hunting ranch

Date: October 3, 2017

Contact: Raechelle Belli, 608-224-5005 or Bill Cosh, Comm. Director, 608-224-5020

MADISON – A white-tailed deer from a hunting ranch in Shawano County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), Wisconsin State Veterinarian Dr. Paul McGraw announced today. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the test results. 

The 3-year-old Shawano County buck was one of about 245 deer reported to be on the 481-acre ranch, according to the owner’s most recent registration.  The deer was born on a Wilderness Game Farm, Inc. breeding facility in May 2014 and transferred to the hunting ranch in Shawano County in September 2015. 

Samples were taken from the deer in accordance with Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP’s) rules, which require testing of farm-raised deer and elk when they die or are killed.

McGraw quarantined the Shawano County herd and its related breeding farm in Waupaca County, which allows movement of deer from the breeding farm to the ranch and to slaughter, but stops movement of live deer to anywhere else. The business will be allowed to conduct hunts on the quarantined ranch because properly handled dead animals leaving the premises do not pose a disease risk.

The DATCP Animal Health Division will initiate an investigation that examines the animal’s history and trace movements of deer onto and off the property to determine whether other herds may have been exposed to the CWD test-positive deer.

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• CWDPositiveShawano20171003.pdf