WINGVILLE, Wis. – A chronic wasting disease (CWD) positive deer was identified recently in Grant County, the Department of Natural Resources announced today.
The two-year old buck was shot by a hunter in the northeast Grant County Town of Wingville. The township is located in deer management unit 73E CWD, part of the CWD Herd Reduction Zone (HRZ). The HRZ is an area covering all or part of 19 counties which serves as a buffer between the smaller CWD Eradication Zone (DEZ) and the rest of the state.
This is the first CWD-positive deer detected in Grant County. The deer was shot about four miles west of the Iowa County line and the DEZ boundary, and about four miles northwest of the Village of Montfort.
To date, 2417 deer have been tested from Grant County since 2002. Another 333 deer have yet to be analyzed.
“There are a number of (CWD) positive deer in the DEZ just to the east and northeast of Highland and Cobb. Although this deer looked perfectly healthy at the time it was shot, (that) is part of the insidious nature of the disease. You can’t tell just by looking,” pointed out CWD project leader Alan Crossley, Fitchburg.
“It is only by looking hard and testing large numbers of deer that we are better able to understand the geographic distribution of CWD in southwest Wisconsin,” pointed out Mr. Crossley.
“We really appreciate the cooperation we are getting from Grant County hunters in helping us collect samples from adult deer,” he said.
Persons interested in the latest information on CWD in Wisconsin can visit the DNR Web site at: Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin.