MADISON — A whitetail deer from a Sauk County farm has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Ehlenfeldt said today.
The 2-year-old buck, owned by William Hetzel, Hillpoint in Bear Creek Township, died of digestive problems Oct. 1 and was tested routinely as the law requires. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, reported Monday, Oct. 20, that the test was positive.
The buck was one of only four deer on the farm. The others are a doe and her two fawns. The farm has been quarantined, which prohibits any live animals from being moved off the property. The herd is enrolled in the CWD monitoring program.
Agriculture officials are checking herd records to find out where the infected animal originated.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s policy is to kill and test herds where CWD is found, as well as herds where infected animals originated. There is no approved CWD test for live animals.
This is the 10th farm-raised animal in Wisconsin to test positive for CWD and the fourth farm where the disease has been found. One of the infected animals was an elk; the rest have been whitetail deer. Currently 13 herds are under quarantine: four connected with on-farm CWD cases in Portage and Walworth counties; 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 eradication zone.