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#11
keeper of the strings , 12-14-2002 04:29 AM
I saved this article from this past summer. This whole thing is going just as I expected it to go when I first heard of WIs effort to eradicate this desease. The eradication zone just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Notice the statement by WIDNR, "He added that the DNR thinks that the disease is centered west of Madison and that the tests this fall will not reveal any spread of the disease to other parts of the state." 
DNR widens deer kill zone as new wasting disease cases found
By LEE BERGQUIST
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Aug. 2, 2002
Six new cases of chronic wasting disease have been discovered in Wisconsin, prompting officials on Friday to widen a special zone west of Madison by nearly 4% for an unprecedented killing of the entire deer population.
The latest finding brings to 24 the number of deer reported to have contracted the fatal brain disease, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
The agency reported that six of 261 deer that were killed during a special summer shoot, June 8 to 14, tested positive for disease.
Two of the deer were killed in locations close to the boundary of the current zone. That prompted the DNR to widen the zone by 13 square miles. The DNR strategy calls for a 4-mile buffer zone around the area where each infected deer was killed.
That means that wildlife officials are aiming to wipe out the entire deer population - 25,000 deer - in a 374-square-mile region in parts of Dane, Iowa and Sauk counties as the centerpiece of their strategy to control the first outbreak of the disease east of the Mississippi River.
Tom Hauge, the DNR's point man on chronic wasting disease, said he was not surprised by the latest results. He said he expects to get more cases from the second summer shoot in July when 339 deer were killed, and during the next shooting periods - Aug. 10 to 16 and Sept. 7 to 13.
"There is no debate anymore that this area is infected with CWD," Hauge said.
The carcasses are being burned at an incineration plant in Poynette.
Thus far, all of Wisconsin's testing has been in the area where the three deer were killed last fall.
The DNR plans to test 40,000 to 50,000 deer during this fall's hunting season, including testing about 500 deer from almost every county in Wisconsin.
The tests, DNR officials think, should give hunters an assurance of "99 percent confidence" of whether the disease exists in that county, Hauge said.
He added that the DNR thinks that the disease is centered west of Madison and that the tests this fall will not reveal any spread of the disease to other parts of the state.
Most of the shooting this summer has been done by landowners, although some sharpshooters from the DNR and other agencies have killed deer.
More than 1,100 landowners have asked for special permits to kill deer. In addition, 300 non-hunting landowners have told the DNR they would like sharpshooters to kill deer on their property, the DNR said.
Hauge downplayed the small number of deer shot in June and July. He said the 600 samples have helped researchers better understand the disease and its epidemiology. Most of the 25,000 deer will be shot this fall, he said.
The state has been battling chronic wasting disease since February, when the DNR first announced that three deer shot during last fall's gun season had tested positive for the disease. Since then, the DNR, the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, and the Department of Health and Family Services have scrambled to map out a plan to fight the spread of the disease.
The disease has cast a shadow over deer hunting, raising the possibility that fewer hunters will head into the woods this fall, which would be a significant blow to the state's economy.
Last month, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor estimated that 10% to 20% of hunters would not hunt this fall. That translates into reduced spending of $48 million to $96 million.
The estimate by Richard Bishop is based on the assumption that chronic wasting disease is not found in deer outside the area now centered near Mount Horeb. If it shows up elsewhere in Wisconsin, the economic impact probably would be severe, said Bishop, chairman of the school's department of agriculture and applied economics.
With a burgeoning population of about 1.6 million deer this fall, fewer hunters could drive deer numbers higher. That, in turn, could cause other problems: more deer-vehicle collisions, damage to crops and habitat and, potentially, a drop in the population from over-winter starvation.
The World Health Organization says there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease can infect humans. However, the agency also says no part of a deer or elk shown to be infected with the fatal illness should be eaten.
Experts agreed that after an outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe, humans developed a new variant of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, a fatal brain disease, after consuming beef from infected cattle.
The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend
DNR widens deer kill zone as new wasting disease cases found
By LEE BERGQUIST
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Aug. 2, 2002
Six new cases of chronic wasting disease have been discovered in Wisconsin, prompting officials on Friday to widen a special zone west of Madison by nearly 4% for an unprecedented killing of the entire deer population.
The latest finding brings to 24 the number of deer reported to have contracted the fatal brain disease, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
The agency reported that six of 261 deer that were killed during a special summer shoot, June 8 to 14, tested positive for disease.
Two of the deer were killed in locations close to the boundary of the current zone. That prompted the DNR to widen the zone by 13 square miles. The DNR strategy calls for a 4-mile buffer zone around the area where each infected deer was killed.
That means that wildlife officials are aiming to wipe out the entire deer population - 25,000 deer - in a 374-square-mile region in parts of Dane, Iowa and Sauk counties as the centerpiece of their strategy to control the first outbreak of the disease east of the Mississippi River.
Tom Hauge, the DNR's point man on chronic wasting disease, said he was not surprised by the latest results. He said he expects to get more cases from the second summer shoot in July when 339 deer were killed, and during the next shooting periods - Aug. 10 to 16 and Sept. 7 to 13.
"There is no debate anymore that this area is infected with CWD," Hauge said.
The carcasses are being burned at an incineration plant in Poynette.
Thus far, all of Wisconsin's testing has been in the area where the three deer were killed last fall.
The DNR plans to test 40,000 to 50,000 deer during this fall's hunting season, including testing about 500 deer from almost every county in Wisconsin.
The tests, DNR officials think, should give hunters an assurance of "99 percent confidence" of whether the disease exists in that county, Hauge said.
He added that the DNR thinks that the disease is centered west of Madison and that the tests this fall will not reveal any spread of the disease to other parts of the state.
Most of the shooting this summer has been done by landowners, although some sharpshooters from the DNR and other agencies have killed deer.
More than 1,100 landowners have asked for special permits to kill deer. In addition, 300 non-hunting landowners have told the DNR they would like sharpshooters to kill deer on their property, the DNR said.
Hauge downplayed the small number of deer shot in June and July. He said the 600 samples have helped researchers better understand the disease and its epidemiology. Most of the 25,000 deer will be shot this fall, he said.
The state has been battling chronic wasting disease since February, when the DNR first announced that three deer shot during last fall's gun season had tested positive for the disease. Since then, the DNR, the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, and the Department of Health and Family Services have scrambled to map out a plan to fight the spread of the disease.
The disease has cast a shadow over deer hunting, raising the possibility that fewer hunters will head into the woods this fall, which would be a significant blow to the state's economy.
Last month, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor estimated that 10% to 20% of hunters would not hunt this fall. That translates into reduced spending of $48 million to $96 million.
The estimate by Richard Bishop is based on the assumption that chronic wasting disease is not found in deer outside the area now centered near Mount Horeb. If it shows up elsewhere in Wisconsin, the economic impact probably would be severe, said Bishop, chairman of the school's department of agriculture and applied economics.
With a burgeoning population of about 1.6 million deer this fall, fewer hunters could drive deer numbers higher. That, in turn, could cause other problems: more deer-vehicle collisions, damage to crops and habitat and, potentially, a drop in the population from over-winter starvation.
The World Health Organization says there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease can infect humans. However, the agency also says no part of a deer or elk shown to be infected with the fatal illness should be eaten.
Experts agreed that after an outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe, humans developed a new variant of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, a fatal brain disease, after consuming beef from infected cattle.
The spirit of the woods is like an old good friend