LAKE GENEVA – A deer shot by a hunter in Walworth County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the Department of Natural Resources reported. The deer was killed within the CWD Herd Reduction Zone, just outside the eastern Disease Eradication Zone (DEZ) boundary,
The buck, about 18 months old, was shot by a hunter north of Lake Geneva in the Town of Lyons, about two and one-half miles east of Highway H. This is the road that marks the boundary between the DEZ to the west and south and the much larger CWD Herd Reduction Zone to the east and north.
This is the eleventh CWD-positive deer detected in Walworth County and is the easternmost positive deer found in the county. Over the past three years, 2021 deer have been tested for CWD in Walworth County, including 1500 so far in 2004.
“ One of the Department’s surveillance goals in the CWD Zones is to better describe the distribution of the disease,” noted DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor Tami Ryan. “By looking hard and testing large numbers of deer, we are able to better understand the geographic distribution of CWD in southeast Wisconsin.
“Once we have all the test results back from the sampling done this past fall and winter, we will be in a better position to assess the impact that this positive deer, and any others we may find, will have on our CWD management strategy,” said Ryan. “We really appreciate the cooperation we are getting from hunters across southeast Wisconsin as we continue to collect samples from adult deer,” she added.
To learn about the Department’s proposed CWD Management Strategy for 2005, the public is invited to attend a CWD Rule Hearing hosted by the DNR. In Southeastern Wisconsin, the hearings are scheduled for March 14 at the DNR Service Center in Waukesha; March 15 at the Kenosha Center (the Kenosha County Administrative Building) in Bristol; and March 16 at the Elkhorn Middle School in Elkhorn. At all locations, there will be an informal informational session with wildlife management staff starting at 5:00 p.m. and the hearings will begin at 7:00 p.m.
More CWD information and test results are available at dnr.wi.gov, click on “Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin.”