MADISON — Another whitetail deer from a Portage County hunting preserve has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt announced today.

This brings the total to seven CWD-positive animals from Buckhorn Flats Game Farm, Almond, owned by Stan Hall.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, reported Wednesday, Feb. 11, that a 5½-year-old buck shot at the hunting preserve was infected with the fatal disease. The animal was routinely sampled for CWD after being shot in a paid hunt Oct. 17. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection rules require that all farm-raised deer and elk 16 months or older must be tested when they die, go to slaughter or are killed.

According to Hall, the buck was raised on his property.

The department issued an order in July 2003 to kill Hall’s herd for testing, but he has appealed the order. A hearing on his appeal is set to begin April 21 before an administrative law judge within the department.

Department rules call for testing herds that have been exposed to CWD. Because there is no test for live animals, exposed herds must be killed.

The Hall farm has been under quarantine since September 2002, when the first CWD-positive animal found on a Wisconsin farm was shot there. He has been permitted to conduct paid hunts because the quarantine applies only to live animals, which may pose a risk of disease transmission.

In all, 16 herds in Wisconsin are under quarantine for CWD. There are seven herds connected with Hall’s case, including his own herd; two that received animals from a herd in Minnesota later found to be infected; and seven that are within the Department of Natural Resources CWD disease eradication zone.

To date, 15 farm-raised animals in Wisconsin have tested positive for CWD on four farms. One of the infected animals was an elk; the rest have been whitetail deer.

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