New rules governing the transport of hunter-harvested and vehicle-killed deer from the Chronic Wasting Disease management zone of southern Wisconsin take effect on September 1. According to the Department of Natural Resources, the new rules aim to prevent the tissues most likely to contain CWD from being brought to areas of the state where CWD does not occur.

CWD Project Leader Davin Lopez says the rules were approved last year by the state DNR board. They ban the movement of whole deer carcass from the CWD-MZ to elsewhere in the state. However, hunters and motorists will be allowed to move whole, registered carcasses of deer shot or hit by a vehicle within the CWD-MZ into a deer management unit adjoining the CWD-MZ.

The rule affects carcass movement in 22 DMUs located in all or parts of Adams, Crawford, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Lafayette, Marquette, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Vernon, Walworth and Waukesha Counties.

Also beginning September 1, Wisconsin will restrict the importation of whole cervid carcasses into the state from areas within states or Canadian provinces that have CWD. The disease has been discovered in wild deer or elk herds in 11 states and two provinces.

Chronic Wasting Disease is an always fatal nervous system disease known to naturally infect white-tailed deer, mule deer, moose and elk. It belongs to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases.

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