Cut fence sparks fear of deer illness
Infected animals may have left farm via wired opening
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 13, 2006
A fence at a Portage County hunting preserve that has housed deer with chronic wasting disease was deliberately cut, state officials reported Friday, and sharpshooters were dispatched to the farm to shoot deer outside the enclave to stop possible exposure to wild deer.
Deer Farm
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Deadly Game: Series on chronic wasting disease (Ongoing series)
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"This was not an accident," said Alan Crossley, the state's coordinator for chronic wasting disease.
He said that a 3-foot-by-3-foot area was cut in the fence and then was wired to remain open. A bait pile was placed outside the fence to attract deer.
Deer tracks were seen going in and out of the breached fence, said Crossley, of the state Department of Natural Resources.
State officials said they have no clues about who cut the fence, but the bait pile and the care taken to ensure that the fence remained open prompted officials to conclude the action was intentional.
Officials also said it was premature to say whether any deer escaped the property, and if so, whether those deer were infected with the disease and have infected other deer.
But in the past, 20 deer have tested positive for the disease at the deer farm, state officials said, raising the possibility of an outbreak in a new region of the state.
Many deer researchers believe that chronic wasting disease is transmissible by deer-to-deer to contact.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in which an abnormal protein invades the brain of a deer, disrupts its ability to eat and drink, and causes the animal to waste away and die.
Chronic wasting disease was first discovered in three deer near Mount Horeb in Dane County in February 2002. Wisconsin became the first state east of the Mississippi River to be hit by the disease.
The finding upended the 2002 deer hunting season - a sport steeped in tradition - as some hunters worried about the safety of eating venison.
Those concerns have mostly been allayed. Most deer that have tested positive since the first reports have been found in Dane and Iowa counties, but there have been other positives in other counties including Rock, Walworth and Kenosha.
Sharpshooters dispatched
On Friday, sharpshooters from the DNR were dispatched to the property owned by Stan Hall to shoot deer near the vandalized fence, Crossley said.
They were expected to try to shoot deer near the fence line throughout the weekend. Crossley said it was too soon to send hunters or sharpshooters into a wider area until officials can glean results from any deer killed this weekend.
As of Friday night, it was unclear how many of the estimated 40 bucks in the enclosed area may have left the property, officials said.
None of the animals was tagged.
Chronic wasting disease was first discovered on Hall's property in September 2002 - the first instance where farm-raised deer were found to have contracted the disease.
More positive deer have been found on Hall's property than any other deer farm in the state, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Hall reported finding the fence open on Thursday, Gilson said.
Hall had surgery on Dec. 22, she said, and his discovery of the tampered fence was the first time he had inspected his fence lines since then.
Hall declined to comment Friday when contacted at his home. In previous interviews with the Journal Sentinel, he raised questions about the state's testing procedures on his deer to discern whether they had contracted the disease.
Deer ordered killed
In July 2003, the state veterinarian ordered that all of the deer on Hall's operation, known as "Buckhorn Flats," be killed. But Hall challenged the order, and since that time the case has wended its way through a state administrative process that is used for killing diseased livestock that could threaten animal or public health.
Before Friday, state officials expressed concern that the Hall farm could fan the disease if deer came into contact with wild deer along the fence line - or the fence itself was damaged.
The appeal process has frustrated officials and many hunters, as well.
"We are certainly concerned about the spread of CWD," said Steven Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, a group that advises the DNR.
"Why has this particular case been tied up in the legal system for so long?" he asked.
Gilson said the agriculture department had hoped for a speedier process, but she said Hall was exercising his rights.
"We can't just go in there and kill those deer and talk about it later," she said. "That's not how due process works."
Meanwhile, Hall and the agriculture department reached an agreement in December to have the 40 bucks killed.
In addition, 79 deer - does, fawns and yearling bucks - in a separate fenced area also will be killed, Gilson said.
Hall will be paid a maximum of $4,500 per animal from state and federal funds, Gilson said.
Gilson said the agency could not say when the deer will be killed.
Zero population
In the past, the DNR has beefed up surveillance in new areas where the disease was found by trying to increase testing on local deer that are killed.
In the deer eradication zone, centered largely in Dane and Iowa counties, the DNR's goal is to reduce the deer population as close to zero as possible. The deer population in the area is declining, but officials acknowledge that the eradication policy will take years.
Hall's deer were kept behind an 8-foot-high fence.
Hall kept operating his hunting preserve until 2005, when new state regulations went into effect that specified that the property of his size was too small to be operated for shooting deer.
"It's a real nice place," Jim Alford of Houma, La., said in a 2004 interview with the Journal Sentinel.
"There is really not a lot of sport in it. It was the first time I had done it. It's more like shooting than hunting."
Since the discovery of the disease on Hall's farm, the DNR has tested 738 deer from Portage County and 1,078 deer from neighboring Waushara County.
State figures show that 82 deer have tested positive from the 2005 hunt - most from Dane and Iowa counties. So far, 16,306 deer have been analyzed from the hunt, with more deer to be tested.
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Cut fence sparks fear of deer illness
Infected animals may have left farm via wired opening
By LEE BERGQUIST
lbergquist@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 13, 2006
A fence at a Portage County hunting preserve that has housed deer with chronic wasting disease was deliberately cut, state officials reported Friday, and sharpshooters were dispatched to the farm to shoot deer outside the enclave to stop possible exposure to wild deer.
Deer Farm
Click to enlarge
Related Coverage
Deadly Game: Series on chronic wasting disease (Ongoing series)
Advertisement
var r = Math.round((Math.random() * 2000000))+ '-' + Math.round((Math.random() * 2000000))+ 10;
var url = 'http://adq.nextag.com/buyer/dyad/160x600s.jsp?s=1491&p=2884' + '&ord=' + r;
var frameContent = '';
document.write(frameContent);
"This was not an accident," said Alan Crossley, the state's coordinator for chronic wasting disease.
He said that a 3-foot-by-3-foot area was cut in the fence and then was wired to remain open. A bait pile was placed outside the fence to attract deer.
Deer tracks were seen going in and out of the breached fence, said Crossley, of the state Department of Natural Resources.
State officials said they have no clues about who cut the fence, but the bait pile and the care taken to ensure that the fence remained open prompted officials to conclude the action was intentional.
Officials also said it was premature to say whether any deer escaped the property, and if so, whether those deer were infected with the disease and have infected other deer.
But in the past, 20 deer have tested positive for the disease at the deer farm, state officials said, raising the possibility of an outbreak in a new region of the state.
Many deer researchers believe that chronic wasting disease is transmissible by deer-to-deer to contact.
The disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in which an abnormal protein invades the brain of a deer, disrupts its ability to eat and drink, and causes the animal to waste away and die.
Chronic wasting disease was first discovered in three deer near Mount Horeb in Dane County in February 2002. Wisconsin became the first state east of the Mississippi River to be hit by the disease.
The finding upended the 2002 deer hunting season - a sport steeped in tradition - as some hunters worried about the safety of eating venison.
Those concerns have mostly been allayed. Most deer that have tested positive since the first reports have been found in Dane and Iowa counties, but there have been other positives in other counties including Rock, Walworth and Kenosha.
Sharpshooters dispatched
On Friday, sharpshooters from the DNR were dispatched to the property owned by Stan Hall to shoot deer near the vandalized fence, Crossley said.
They were expected to try to shoot deer near the fence line throughout the weekend. Crossley said it was too soon to send hunters or sharpshooters into a wider area until officials can glean results from any deer killed this weekend.
As of Friday night, it was unclear how many of the estimated 40 bucks in the enclosed area may have left the property, officials said.
None of the animals was tagged.
Chronic wasting disease was first discovered on Hall's property in September 2002 - the first instance where farm-raised deer were found to have contracted the disease.
More positive deer have been found on Hall's property than any other deer farm in the state, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Hall reported finding the fence open on Thursday, Gilson said.
Hall had surgery on Dec. 22, she said, and his discovery of the tampered fence was the first time he had inspected his fence lines since then.
Hall declined to comment Friday when contacted at his home. In previous interviews with the Journal Sentinel, he raised questions about the state's testing procedures on his deer to discern whether they had contracted the disease.
Deer ordered killed
In July 2003, the state veterinarian ordered that all of the deer on Hall's operation, known as "Buckhorn Flats," be killed. But Hall challenged the order, and since that time the case has wended its way through a state administrative process that is used for killing diseased livestock that could threaten animal or public health.
Before Friday, state officials expressed concern that the Hall farm could fan the disease if deer came into contact with wild deer along the fence line - or the fence itself was damaged.
The appeal process has frustrated officials and many hunters, as well.
"We are certainly concerned about the spread of CWD," said Steven Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, a group that advises the DNR.
"Why has this particular case been tied up in the legal system for so long?" he asked.
Gilson said the agriculture department had hoped for a speedier process, but she said Hall was exercising his rights.
"We can't just go in there and kill those deer and talk about it later," she said. "That's not how due process works."
Meanwhile, Hall and the agriculture department reached an agreement in December to have the 40 bucks killed.
In addition, 79 deer - does, fawns and yearling bucks - in a separate fenced area also will be killed, Gilson said.
Hall will be paid a maximum of $4,500 per animal from state and federal funds, Gilson said.
Gilson said the agency could not say when the deer will be killed.
Zero population
In the past, the DNR has beefed up surveillance in new areas where the disease was found by trying to increase testing on local deer that are killed.
In the deer eradication zone, centered largely in Dane and Iowa counties, the DNR's goal is to reduce the deer population as close to zero as possible. The deer population in the area is declining, but officials acknowledge that the eradication policy will take years.
Hall's deer were kept behind an 8-foot-high fence.
Hall kept operating his hunting preserve until 2005, when new state regulations went into effect that specified that the property of his size was too small to be operated for shooting deer.
"It's a real nice place," Jim Alford of Houma, La., said in a 2004 interview with the Journal Sentinel.
"There is really not a lot of sport in it. It was the first time I had done it. It's more like shooting than hunting."
Since the discovery of the disease on Hall's farm, the DNR has tested 738 deer from Portage County and 1,078 deer from neighboring Waushara County.
State figures show that 82 deer have tested positive from the 2005 hunt - most from Dane and Iowa counties. So far, 16,306 deer have been analyzed from the hunt, with more deer to be tested.
From the Jan. 14, 2006, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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